Chrysalides
by TheVermilionRose
Summary: Breaking the laws of physics had twice over consequences they couldn't predict as they draw the ire of the Two Deities sworn to non-interference, regardless of their previous agreements. Some laws are too fundamental to break and the team is forced back to the time where everything made sense, still unsure who their enemies are. (Sequel to Butterflies)
1. Again

Chapter One

* * *

 **Again**

* * *

Four pairs of eyes snapped open and their lungs took in massive gulps of air.

* * *

Formerly bright silver eyes snapped open.

For anyone else, waking up and not being able to see would have sent them into a panic as they tried to figure out why they were suddenly blind.

To Summer, she only had to remember to stretch out her senses to get a feel for where she was, a room she hadn't seen in several years, a room Nova hadn't seen in several years either.

It was the smell of it which triggered the repressed memory, the scent of pine, petrichor, and linen which was so decidedly their home on Patch.

The standard items of a shared double bedroom pinged off her Aura, the colours lost in translation, just grey shapes in her mind as she read the returned pulses.

She had no idea how she managed to get back to Patch as her last memory was of Menagerie and reporting to her team about her meeting with Salem. Her team had placed their hands on Rei and been surrounded by a blinding light.

Re'iyah.

The tiny Grimm didn't ping off anywhere on her senses. She twisted her arm behind her back, searching for the smooth black gem embedded behind her heart. It responded in kind by resonated under her touch, notifying her she was safely stored inside with a quiet yip in the back of her mind.

She wrested herself from her bed, shaking off morning woes. If she somehow ended up on Patch, then there was a good chance her team was with her. That light must've teleported them here with her.

Nova's bed sat directly next to hers, and while she wasn't pinging off her pulses, she could definitely feel and smell her sister was in the room with her.

She was still sleeping like the usual lump of useless she was whenever she had time off, this time without a companion to share her warmth with.

Summer crawled onto the bed, careful not the shift the springs too much to wake up Nova before she was in place. She planted herself on her sister's waist, finally causing her to stir from her slumber.

"Wake up." Her command managed to pull Nova from her dreams, her sister's hands automatically reaching up to grab her hips and dance along her thighs. She hummed at the feeling, then frowned as she realised she was feeling two flesh hands on her skin and not one of flesh and one of metal. "Nova."

"Wha-a-a-?" Nova slurred through her morning fog. Summer grabbed Nova's right arm, inspected it with her hands, lacking her occulatory facilities to check. Flesh, muscles, sinew, and blood thrummed under her hands as she roamed about to find the supposed melding point of metal and flesh.

It wasn't there.

"Nova." She repeated her name, but continued to get incomprehensible responses. Taking a revolutionary method, she pinched the skin of Nova's right hand hard, shocking her as pain lanced up an arm previously devoid of such a feeling.

"What the fuck?" Nova sat up, shifting Summer onto her lap and grabbed her new flesh arm, staring at it in amazement. Subsequent pinches and scratches revealed it wasn't a dream and her metal arm was gone, replaced with her original. "How?"

"I don't know." Summer sounded as her usual self; droll and unmotivated.

Nova turned her attention from her arm to her sister. Summer sat eye to eye with her, even sitting on her lap. "You're small again."

Summer blinked back, running her hands down her front, checking the size of her breasts. She looked down her nightshirt, immediately realising she couldn't see them. She instead took off her shirt, drawing it over her head and tossing it to the side, letting Nova check for herself.

"There's nothing here Summer." Nova traced Summer's skin where she knew she should've had at least some scars. There was no cosmetic surgery extensive enough to cover Summer's scars. It wasn't makeup either as the skin warped and moved just as the rest of her.

This body had never sustained the same treatment it should've.

"Scroll." Summer demanded, reaching for the one resting on the bedside table. She handed it over, not being able to read the time and date on the lock screen. Nova took it without a word and turned on the display.

24/6/81

The 24th day of the 6th month in the year 81 after the Great War.

"No...not again." Nova threw her head back onto the bed, roughly tossing the scroll aside as if shoving it away would make her delusions true. Summer jostled around, back to sitting on her sister's waist, still shirtless. "Wake me up when reality starts making sense again."

"Answer or I start nipple twisting." Summer hovered her hands above Nova's breasts, ready to torment until she got answers. Nova cracked a violet eye open, daring her to try before she noticed Summer was still blind.

"We're back home, back in the summer before we started Beacon. From the looks of it, we're back in our original bodies. Bianca's theories 1 and 2." Summer felt Nova caress her face and fingers probe under her eye. "Not entirely original it seems."

"Be happy Salem decided to let me live instead of killing me as she'd done with our mother and her predecessors. You, Kara, and Bianca were both restored to your originals forms, and so was I, with a few modifications."

"So Salem sent us back to our original dimension, after agreeing to a ceasefire with the Hunters?" Nova couldn't remember much more than the white light as it overrode the rest of her senses. "And after you agreed to help her?"

"You think I understand the inner workings of an omnipotent goddess? Maybe she tried to eliminate all of us at the same time and Bianca did something to interfere? Or maybe she was on her period and decided to screw with us? Or maybe it was Ozpin deciding he wanted to be Commander again?"

"We did get transported here when we all decided to touch Rei at the same time?" Nova's, now back to Yang again, hands idly massaged Ruby's legs during their conversation. "Speaking of which…?"

Rei manifested briefly in Ruby's hand before being placed back into safe storage, only able to form a quick and sad whimper at being forced back into her kennel. It was for her own safety. Neither of them could remember if Tai or Qrow were in the house.

"Okay, so it wasn't some weird shared dream with the rest of our team." Yang suddenly dug her nails into Ruby's thighs, drawing thin rivulets of blood. "I still don't like how you went off to meet with Salem _alone_ without telling us."

"My original plan was to use my remaining eye in an attempt to kill her. Instead, I sacrificed the eye to her while gaining something for my Hunter. If I succeeded in killing her, great, but if I failed, then I'd be dead."

Instead of reacting in anger to her plans, Yang pulled Ruby down for a hug, trapping her with her strength and drawing her head down to her shoulder. She shifted the covers about until they both lay under them.

"You need to stop martyring yourself. You're no good to the team dead." She carded her fingers through Ruby's crimson hair and pressed her tighter against her body.

"I was doing what I thought best for my Hunters, as a good Commander should've done. I had the ability and opportunity to stop a war before it really got started." Ruby closed her eyes, the altruism of Yang's actions slowly lulling her back to sleep.

"Good for the Hunters, but shit for the team, and horrible as a wife, lover, and sister." Ruby chuckled at her profanity, silently updating her protocols for 'good lover' and 'good sister'. They clashed with her prerogatives as High Commander, but her team would be there to fix those if she ever took command again.

Ruby was almost asleep again when Yang's hand brushed against the gem on her back, sending a shiver up her spine and another yip echoing in her head.

"That's where Rei is stored." Yang nodded, returning to her meaningless task of exploring her team leader's body for changes. Other than the eyes and the gem, and the lack of scars, nothing else seemed out of place on Ruby's younger body.

"You know, it was fun meeting our younger selves. Hope they'll be able to continue without us, especially little Red." Ruby didn't reply, not having much of an opinion of their interactions. "Do I have a black little extra anywhere on my body?"

Ruby cocked her head, begging Yang to explain.

"Just hoping Salem or Ozpin had the decency to attach Serenity somewhere on my body. She was nearly rebuilt in time for the liberation. Now it's back to square one." Yang sigh, blowing a strand of her hair off her face as she burrowed into her pillow. "Weiss isn't going to be happy until she's back up and running."

"We won't be able to see her until Beacon." Ruby remarked. Both of them knew it to be true, unless Weiss scheduled a surprise trip to Vale and could somehow justify it to the megalomaniac of a sperm donor she had as a father. "Can't message either Weiss or Blake."

The numbers of each scroll they knew by heart but those were Hunter registered scrolls and wouldn't be handed out until Beacon. Weiss was stuck in Atlas and calling her through the SDC would set off her father. She'd have to call Signal and then reach them through Tai, which would set off questions none of them wanted to answer.

Blake, on the other hand, was homeless somewhere in Vale, but was resourceful enough to realize the Fang had more than enough bullheads she could steal and commandeer one to Patch. It would give them the starting frame to Serenity.

"Blake should be here within a few days, but before that, I'd like to actually check out the dimension we're in and confirm were in our original one. I wouldn't put it past Salem to screw with us because we interfered too much."

It would've turned out nicely for Salem. Cripple Summer and use Rei to eavesdrop on SKBN, and when they were all together, wipe them from that existence, returning everything to its status quo. She was the one with the fetish for balance after all.

"You won't be checking anyone out." Yang snickered, watching as Ruby fumbled about for her discarded shirt. "You're blind as fuck."

"I will hurt you." Ruby's threat became less enforceable as she smacked into the corner of the door frame, forgetting to turn her pulses back on, sending Yang into guffaws.

* * *

Showering separately wasn't an option after Ruby slipped and nearly concussed herself on the tiles. After Yang managed to pick herself up from laughing too hard, she realised Ruby was completely hopeless in the shower as she couldn't tell shampoo from body wash.

While she could've just sat outside and handed Ruby the proper bottles, no one ever denied having someone to clean those pesky hard to reach places. Yang traced the black cracks breaking through the skin of Ruby's back, the epicenter of them being the gem embedded behind her heart.

Thankfully, neither Tai nor Qrow seemed to be home to question why Ruby and Yang were together in the bathroom in the first place. Qrow was off flying with his little birds and Tai was probably finishing up his semester as professor at Signal.

Ruby spent a good few minutes reacclimatising to their home, mapping and rememorising, converting her visual memories to colorless blobs in her mind map. She could've used Rei, but didn't know when Tai or Qrow could drop by unannounced find a Grimm sitting obediently on Ruby's head, acting as her eyes.

"We're gonna have to teach you how to fight decently if you want any chance of gaining admission to Beacon for next semester." Yang plated some breakfast for Ruby as they sat around the small dining table.

"My impromptu interview with Ozpin is in a few weeks. I'll have to learn how to kick his ass before then. I doubt he didn't have anything to do with sending us back here, even if Salem denied having spoken with him since some length."

"He might not take kindly to a Signal student trying to maim him."

"This Signal student will steal his cocoa and blacklist him from any chocolatier in the country." Yang highly doubted Ruby had enough pull to leave Ozpin without his addiction, especially with how much of Beacon's funds were appropriated to 'miscellaneous' usage throughout the years.

The Mt. Glenn Project had been solely funded from them and Summer almost strangled Ozpin when she found out.

Ruby scarfed down her breakfast as quickly as she could skewer the scrambled eggs, eager to get out to the field and test the limits of this body with the new constraint of her lack of vision.

Yang followed her example, rushing to meet Ruby out in the large field behind their house. Crescent Rose and Ember Celica remained up in their rooms as they needed to figure out how Ruby would take in her surroundings before they added bullets and blades.

"Rei's not going to join us?" Yang took her spot across from Ruby on their unofficial sparring grounds.

"I'd rather not reveal to the world I have a pet Grimm I need to use to go about in the world. She'll come out in private, but I don't want her getting hurt or have to use her as a crutch." Yang nodded along, following her reasoning.

"You're going to run out of Aura eventually if you keep having to pulse your Aura to map your surroundings, and I have nowhere near the amount to keep transfusing you. I feel weak as a kitten."

Ever since they woke up, their mental instincts demanded their Auras to maintain a shielding around their bodies, even if it sapped their exponentially smaller pools to do so. To someone like Yang, who usually didn't feel the drain with her ocean of Aura except when taking Ruby's shells, or an excited Weiss, her shielding was taxing.

"I have no other option, and you know eye transplants won't take." Ruby sank into a meditative trance, trusting Rei to keep the worst of Summer at bay. Sending her pulses out as far as they would go, she could sense the trees all the way down to the blades of grass.

Yang, on the other hand didn't register on her senses, instead leaving a large blank void in her 'vision'. It was just the nature of her Semblance to absorb even the smallest impacts, included any Aura sent her way.

"You're going to have to drop your Semblance or you won't register." Yang's Aura almost reluctantly pulled off her skin and returned to her ever expanding reserves, a tapping foot slowly growing its size.

Another pulse had Yang showing up but the vision dropped almost instantly. The task of sending pulses out didn't take much concentration, but it pulled Aura from her.

Instead of sending out pulses, Ruby tried to maintain a shell of Aura about twenty metres around her. A command to Yang had her crossing the threshold of the shell multiple times as Ruby struggled to sense Yang when she stepped out of the shell.

It would create a superb proximity alarm for any projectiles or hostiles coming at her, but she couldn't sense anything inside the shell.

But the shell took much less Aura to maintain than the hundreds of pulses needed to paint a picture, and took less Aura still than maintaining an Aura shield, having to make the shell permeable instead of the usual solid.

She didn't want to think how much Aura it would take to maintain a distance shield. It was the only thing holding her back from simply spreading her Aura out in all directions and reading the returned pings. Yang didn't have the Aura needed to fuel that endeavor, not now, nor in the near future.

If she could maintain the twenty metre shell with little more than a thought, then she could theoretically maintain a series of shells at set intervals, shortening the distance between them the closer they formed to her body.

Calculus came in handy after all and she couldn't help but compare it to Reimann sum and integral as she tightened her grip on her Aura and thought fondly back to Weiss smacking her with their math textbook when she refused to learn the subject matter.

Simpler times.

The outermost shell remained at twenty metres, the second at ten, the next at seven, five, four, three, two, one, and then another few acting as second skins until they reached her shield, morphing to fit her body.

While standing in place, the shells held up miraculously well.

Another order to Yang had her running back and forth between the shells as Ruby analysed the readouts from the shells. She could tell exactly from which direction Yang was coming from, the speed as she impacted each subsequent shell and the angle she was coming from.

If, however, she applied her Semblance to the neurons firing rapidly in her brain, she gained a greater understanding of the shells, able to nearly predict Yang's future movements and more accurately understand how Yang was moving through them.

Thank you Neo.

This was going to take a while to get used to.

At least Weiss wouldn't be the only control Huntress on the team anymore, and that brought a smile to her face.


	2. Tantrum

Chapter Two

* * *

 **Tantrum**

* * *

There was a significant problem when Bianca awoke.

She lay on a massive king-sized bed layered in the finest silks of the most luminous whites and blues.

She hadn't had one of those since she left her home.

That frigid bitch of a castle locked away in the mountains of Solitas.

Atlas.

'How' was not the important part as she realized she was missing a critical aspect in her usual bed.

A warm body.

She couldn't quite remember the last time she woke up without Summer, Kara, or Nova in her bed; the three her usual and only bed companions she ever had. Nova was her most frequent, but she knew not to get jealous.

Kara needed to dominate Bianca sometimes, something about revenge for Menagerie against the Schnees. She didn't begrudge her her roleplay and fantasies, especially with those razor sharp ribbons she liked to use.

In a fit of exasperation, the bed sheets and pillows were sent flying about the room, a primal noise of rage and petulance echoing within her chambers.

Whatever Summer and Rei had done had sent her back to her home in Atlas, a place she knew held little to no positive memories for her. It was a shocker there weren't several Grimm nest surrounding the castle with how her parents raised her.

This wasn't her home.

This literally wasn't.

This was Weiss' home, not hers. The fate of her Castle Schnee was unknown, but Primordials shredded through stone as easily as Summer did through anything vaguely resembling strawberry.

She was a trespasser in this home and no one would be fooled she was Weiss. Not with her short hair or gruesome scar.

She swung her body upright, wondering why her body felt as if just woke up. This wasn't the first time she pulled an overnight mission, and she didn't feel the tiredness until the next night. She got her answer as something long and white brushed across her vision.

She tried to push it away, thinking it was a stray blanket that survived the earlier explosion of limbs, but it instead swayed back to her, as if attached to her head.

It was her hair. Magically grown back to its obnoxiously long length which took several hours to dry properly, got tangled for the slightest fucking reason, and got stuck on absolutely FUCKING everything!

The usual knife or dagger under her pillow wasn't there as the quickest answer to shortening the miraculous hair growth.

A sinking feeling in her stomach had her sprinting to her personal bathroom, long hair flying behind her. She skid to a stop in front of her mirror, staring at a face unblemished by Taurus, but still with the scar crossing her eye. Fingers probed the rejuvenated skin, testing and pulling the tautness.

Summer had managed to do the impossible and send them back in time to the summer before their first semester at Beacon.

She managed to get away with her suicidal parley with Salem, not only making her sacrifice useless by shifting them back in time, but denying Bianca her wish to give Summer another chance to see by giving her one of her own eyes, being the only O- donor on the team.

She knew any transplant wouldn't take, but it was supposed to be symbolic and how cool would it look if two members of Team SKBN wore eyepatches.

Though, she supposed it was Team RWBY again as they were back in their original dimension. Something which needed exploring as she finally managed to wrench herself away from the mirror. The scar she could live without, but the hair was going to go as soon as she could get out of this castle.

The castle was a good staging ground for her escape. It was large enough to move about unnoticed by her parents and was connected to the worldwide internet, allowing her to confirm her theory about which dimension she was in again.

It would have to wait as there was an intruder in her room, someone she had long forgotten about when she left Castle Schnee for Beacon and never came back.

"Miss Schnee, I've prepared your morning outfit." Her personal servant, Bast, stood by her bedside in her stereotypical maid outfit. She was unlike other Faunus, as she lacked a tail or ears, but she possessed the slitted eyes and claws of many of her kin.

Another example of how Jacques Schnee lorded his status over the Faunus, giving her to Weiss to foster a sense of superiority over them, hoping she'd follow in his footsteps. Bast was forced to wear such a demeaning outfit and keep her nails short.

"Thank you." Weiss ignored her usual battle dress and made her way to her dresser, frowning at her earlier choices of clothing, but was eventually able to find a pair of jeans Winter had given to her along with a polo.

"Did I pull out the wrong outfit Miss Schnee?" There was an undertone of fear in her maid's voice, knowing a mistake meant punishment, especially as a Faunus staff member to the heiress of the company.

"No, but I wanted to try something new." Weiss stripped from her nightshirt and donned her change of clothes, unabashed to Bast being in the room with her. She still averted her eyes per decorum. Weiss took this time to take the dress and walk to her closet.

"Miss Schnee!" Bast jumped into action after Weiss as she grabbed a hanger and made to put the dress back onto its hook. "You shouldn't be doing my work."

She had to resist the urge to facepalm at the servitude Bast showed her, not allowing her to perform even the smallest amount of work. It would always somehow get back to her father and then she'd either be disciplined, let go, or worse, get send to one of the dreaded labour camps.

"Where is my father?" She had to be careful with her phrasing. Bast was used to following orders, not requests. This request from Weiss would usually be instead phrased as 'Tell me where my father is', a command.

"Your father left earlier this morning for a business meeting and won't return for a few days." Bast hung up the dress and closed the closet, returning to Weiss' side. "Your mother is in her solar and has asked not to be disturbed."

No doubt she was back to drinking and doing work again. Maybe it was the loss of Whitley as a miscarriage which caused her to start drinking, maybe it was the menopause which caused her to succumb to the cup, or maybe it was just her family being fucked up.

Whichever reason it was, Weiss wasn't going to waste time consoling a woman who was barely there for her during her childhood. She had more important things to do.

"Good." Weiss left Bast to chase after her as she left her room and proceeded down the hallway, angling for the lower levels of the castle.

"Where are you going Miss?" Bast fell into a submissive step behind Weiss, keeping a respectful distance.

"Kitchens. I need breakfast." Weiss replied casually, as if it was something she did her herself any other day. Ruby was the one in charge of any exquisite breakfasts, but she could still make simple things. Anything more and Yang stood by in full firefighter gear and extinguisher.

She could be an ass, but it was why she loved her.

"I can have breakfast brought up to the dining room for you." Bast quickly supplied, but Weiss wasn't going to be swayed as she continued down the stairs towards the kitchens.

"I can make breakfast for myself Bast." Weiss pushed opened the dual doors to the kitchens, causing every staff member inside to freeze at her presence. No Schnee had ever come down here in recent memory. "You can, however, tell me how many Faunus staff there are in the castle."

This was an order, as much as she hated to give one, but she needed to know for her escape to succeed. She wasn't taking much more than clothes and Myrtenaster, but Bast and the rest of the Faunus would be blamed when Jacques came back and found her missing without a word to anyone.

Bast looked ready to jump in at any moment and stop the heiress from making breakfast, but thought it better to ignore her wishes. "There aren't many Miss Schnee. Less than a dozen."

"Please just call me Weiss." She added as an afterthought, absentmindedly. "Miss Schnee makes me feel old." She was a 22 year old stuck in the body of a 17 year old again. She didn't need reminding she was older than she was supposed to be.

"I can't do that Miss Schnee." Bast tried hard to not meet Weiss' disapproving gaze, and fidgeted with the hem of her skirt. "Your father's order are to treat you with deference."

"And if I ordered you to call me 'Weiss' instead of 'Miss Schnee'?" She knew it was a mute point. She didn't want to order people to call her by her first name, she wanted them to do it because she could be an acquaintance; a friend.

Bast looked unsure of how to answer. Lord Schnee's orders came before his daughter's, but Bast was her personal handmaiden. Never had Weiss given a contradictory order to her.

"Just forget about it. One day, I hope you'll be comfortable enough around me to call me by my first name." Weiss let the topic drop and Bast inaudibly sighed in relief, satisfied she wasn't going to have to decide to between Lord Schnee and Miss Schnee. "Sit."

Bast looked at her with confusion until Weiss plated breakfast and held it out for her. It wasn't anything fancy, an omelette with a few veggies tossed about, but it was the symbolism which got to everyone in the kitchens.

Weiss Schnee had asked the help, a Faunus no less, to eat breakfast with her. Not only eat, but eat a breakfast she had personally made.

"I can't Miss Schnee!" Bast tried to protest under the looks of confusion and horror of her workers. She was protesting a Schnees orders, but it was highly unorthodox to eat at a table with one in the first place. "It wouldn't be proper."

"Fuck proper. Sit." Bast went into a borderline comatose state at the profanity coming from the heiress. It gave Weiss the chance to manhandle her to a seat on the table used by the staff for their breaks. Weiss pushed Bast's plate to her and took a seat across from her, beginning to demolish her own food. "Eat."

Bast moved in an almost autonomous haze as she ate her omelette. Weiss made some sort of satisfied noise as she snapped out of her stupor and began to actually eat the food Weiss prepared. She shrank under the gazes of her coworkers.

"Bast, I have an important mission for you." Bast perked up at that, ready to be of service to her. "Do you know who all the Faunus staff are?"

Bast nodded, as Weiss thought she would. If there was less than a dozen as she claimed, then it wasn't a far stretch to assume she knew all of them, at least in passing.

"I need to meet with all of them." Bast's eyes suddenly filled with justified fear. Weiss was singling out just the Faunus, not a good track record with who her father was. "You have nothing to fear from me Bast. I've never treated you wrong, have I?"

She couldn't remember if there was a moment where she treated Bast any less than she deserved. Harshly, maybe, when she was angry at a mistake she made, but never as a _thing_ to be looked down upon.

Bast shook her head, dissuading her worries.

"No one's in trouble Bast. I just want to meet all of them. The conference room next to the main foyer will suit my needs. Please have all the Faunus there at around 2100." Weiss took her leave from the kitchens, depositing her used dish in the sink. She'd enjoy the luxury of servants while she had the chance.

Twelves hours to go.

Sometimes she regretted waking up early.

* * *

It was weird having to be covert in her old home. She wasn't even having to be covert against her parents, seeing as one wasn't at home and the other was locked in a room at the top floor. It was Bast, and her prying eyes, she was avoiding.

There were only so many tasks she could send Bast on before she had to order her to leave her alone. She could deal with her presence when she was in her office, researching the Remnant she found herself in again. It was a good sign when she couldn't find any evidence of Whitley's existence.

Her worst worries were if she was separated from her team and found herself alone with a Team RWBY she couldn't recognize. There was nothing she could do to confirm which of her team members were who; if they were hers, or this dimension's.

She should've left as soon as she woke up, but Bast would've been blamed for her disappearance and she couldn't live with knowing she could've done something to save her from her father's wrath.

She might not be able to save all the Faunus within the camps right now, but she could help the few around her.

Emulating Blake to an extreme, she slunk through the castle and acquisitioned every resource she needed. Though the SDC didn't use the castle as a storeroom, Weiss had more than enough Dust allocated to her for practice.

Dust was as good of money, and she lacked the physical Lien she wanted, Fire Dust especially with its majority used as fuel. The SDC R&D wanted to focus on renewable energies, but couldn't work without their president's approval.

She got a few weird looks from the security in charge of the castle's built-in hangar, but she moved with confidence as she pulled along a trolley stacked high with crates of the four major Dust types.

They even helped her load it onto one of the bullheads when she beckoned them over, briefly stating she was taking a sanctioned trip out to Atlas' Hearth Academy to test her abilities before her semester at Beacon.

She didn't get any questions after that as she continued to load her luggage and other necessities.

Before she knew it, her scroll alerted her to the meeting she requested with the Faunus staff. They were all going to leave with her when she left for Patch where she'd pick up her team and they'd all move onward to Menagerie.

She arrived early to the conference room, and unsurprisingly, Bast had everyone already gathered there, waiting for her. They all greeted her with a small bow of their heads, but Weiss refused a seat around the table and remained by the door as no one else was seated, waiting for her to take a seat first.

"None of you have any reason to trust me, and my family has given you no reason to do so. I'm leaving this castle with no intention to ever return and I'm giving you a chance to leave." She gave them a chance to speak up, but no one raised any concerns. "I'll be leaving right now and making a short stop on the island of Patch before we leave to Menagerie."

"Why are you helping us?" Bast was the only one brave enough to ask a question. Weiss could guess they thought it was a trap and she was instead shipping them to one of her family's labour camps.

"Jacques will persecute each and every one of you, regardless if you knew my intentions to leave or not, just because you're Faunus. My conscious wouldn't allow me to leave you to your fates when I'm taking a bullhead with more than enough room for all of you."

"I'm going." Bast was the first one to throw her support behind Weiss, and the rest of them agreed, some of them reluctantly and with distrust. "Do we have time to pack?"

"I'll take care of anything you need when we get to Vale, a small penance for my family's wrongdoings against the Faunus." Weiss left the conference with Bast and entourage trailing behind her.

The group of nine Faunus and their impromptu leader walked down the corridor to the hangars, but were stopped by Weiss' command just before the entrance to the hangar.

"Follow me as if you're supposed to be here." Security didn't stop her as her group made their way to the prepped bullhead. The doors were already flung open and Weiss hopped into the fuselage, then the cockpit. Bast followed her while the other eight spread out and tried to find a comfortable place.

"Do you know how to fly this, Miss?" Bast audibly gulped as she fastened the belts over her shoulders and waist.

"Of course I do." Different body this may be, but the information was still there. Maybe not so different body as she still had to stretch to reach the overhead console, even with a seat adjustment. They just weren't built for small people. "It'll be around six hours to get the Patch."

She was cleared to forward out into the open by the air controller. No one questioned her as a Schnee, even with the entourage she kept.

The lights of Atlas twinkled below her far in the distance as Weiss stopped the craft and ran through her preflight checklist. Bast looked on as she ticked away checkpoint after checkpoint on her scroll and then rotated the engines to vertical.

Slowly, the craft rose from its pad. Weiss grinned at the feeling of piloting again. The craft rose higher and higher until it peaked over the castle and she slammed the engines forward, enjoying the feeling of freefall until the wings caught lift.

She could make out the tears in Bast's eyes and she detached a hand from the steering column, offering it to her. She hesitated until Weiss manhandled a hand into her grip and squeezed assuringly. Weiss let her hold it all throughout the trip. She didn't mind.

Her team was waiting for her.

* * *

Bast: the Egyptian goddess of cats, among others.


	3. Nightmare

Chapter Three

* * *

 **Nightmare**

* * *

Hardwood wasn't the most comfortable floor to wake up on and a sleeping bag did little to dissuade a night in an uncomfortable sleeping position.

She was curled up tightly within, her body pressing down onto her arm and causing it to feel numb. Fingers clenched and unclenched as she pumped blood back around her arm and threw the covers of the sleeping bag off her.

The slowly spinning ceiling fan nabbed for attention for a short while as she lay there, eyes following one of the blades while she fell into a hypnotic trance.

Are you having a mewment? She could hear Nova purring in her ear and she snapped out of it, ready to deliver deadly claws against Nova's precious hair. They instead embedded in the floor, gouging out deep splinters of wood.

It was just her imagination.

She was alone in a dilapidated apartment studio. The floor was missing in places and she lay on the only good part of it. The walls had cracks running through them but still stood strong, the beige paint peeling off and revealing the grey drywall behind it. The window let a chilly summer breeze flow into the room, one of its panes missing.

First step was to not panic. As far as she could tell, she was alone in the studio and had full mobility in both pairs of limbs. Her senses also seemed to be unencumbered. Second step was to secure a weapon, and Gambol Shroud was in her sightline.

She wasn't wearing her pajamas, but was dressed in her usual Beacon clothes, an ensemble of black and white. Not the most comfortable night clothes. Third step, figure out where she was, or rather when.

This was one of the safehouses she used before she got accepted to Beacon, a small place located on the south-southeastern edge of Vale. Too close to the failed project to warrant any money being funneled into the district.

It should've been destroyed when the Primordials rampaged through Vale, but here it stood, just as bare in accommodations as she remembered. She splashed water onto her face and stared at her face in the mirror.

Long hair had her frowning and eyebrows driving into a deep furrow. She could do a rough cut with Gambol, but Nova was much more skilled in giving haircuts. She tore the bow from her ears, sighing in relief at the freedom gained and tied her hair back.

"Summer." The sound of her own voice startled her and had her checking along her neck for the pink scar, but could find nothing, not even the smallest scratches. The scowl remained on her face as she returned to the main studio area, taking in her only belonging: the sleeping bag.

A box of matches caught her attention on the countertop, most likely having been used to help ignite the gas stove earlier in her residency. A quick check on Gambol revealed a full magazine but a near empty supply of any kind of Dust. Not nearly enough to burn the place down to hide her presence.

A necessary habit in her first war.

The sleeping bag was stowed in its carrying bag with much difficulty, the sleeping bag refusing to be contained, but eventually giving in to brute force. She tossed it haphazardly to the corner, waiting for its next user; she didn't need it.

She trudged onto the roof of the apartment complex and stared out onto the inner districts of Vale. Behind her, in the distance, she could barely make out the ruins of . Her country stood strong, unravaged by political turmoil and war.

She dove into a side alley, testing her Aura reserves as they absorbed the shock of the fall. Nothing to be proud of: vastly underused and undertrained. Four clones would be her limit before she ran dry and risked lapsing into an exhaustion induced coma. It was her limit when she first started attending Beacon.

The lack of a leg pouch reminded her of her dire circumstances. No scroll and little funds. A newsstand owner was kind enough to let her browse the front page of a major newspaper and her suspicions were confirmed.

24/6/81

Guess she was back to Blake again.

There were a few Lien tucked into her short's pockets but not nearly enough to get her to Beacon, let along all the way to Patch.

From memory, she could recall several White Fang safehouses and outposts in the southern quadrant of Vale, buried amongst the agricultural districts tucked next to the residential districts. These districts were renowned for being vastly isolated from one another, thousands of acres separating one from another.

They were loud, smelly, and always active, no matter the time of the day; the perfect location for a safehouse. The closest one for located a mere half hour from her location at a brisk walk and she hoped it had the resources she needed.

* * *

She was lucky the White Fang had presence in the district she woke up in. The next closest town was over 30 kilometres to the west and she lacked the patience to hitchhike. She needed her Aura for when she entered the safehouse and couldn't afford to use it for running.

Yang would put her through the wringer when she got to Patch.

It was nothing special, a muted sky blue warehouse stuck between tens of others on an offshoot road. To the untrained eyes, it was simply that. Few people milled about the warehouse, dressed in varying arrays of bright colours and fluorescents, complete with hard hats.

If she had binoculars, she could maybe see the slitted pupils of each 'worker'. The hard hats covered any animal ears and the bright clothing drew attention from a tail tucked under. They blended in well enough.

It was around midday and there was only one guard who switched with one other from within, taking necessary smoke breaks, lunch breaks, or relaxation breaks to monitor the outside for any suspicious activity.

She sat tucked away behind a stack of crates in the alleyway between two other warehouses. An estimated half hour passed between guard rotations, yet there only continued to remain one. It was a good sign there weren't many Fang members within. Most guard rotations lasted six or eight hours, depending on who ran the safehouse.

The few inside were most likely squabbling who was going to get suckered with lookout while the played their poker game. So estimated six to eight players with one other commander who oversaw the warehouse. They wouldn't be guard duty if there wasn't one.

The first hour was spent patiently waiting as she observed the warehouse, but the moment the second guard rotation happened, she left her hiding place and made her way to the warehouse as casually as she could.

There was a sway to her hips as she approached the lone guard, but other than the lustful looks, he bore no familiarity with her. Adam ruled Vale's White Fang with an iron fist, but she was nothing but a faceless apprentice under his command.

"A stray has wandered far from home." She said the first part of the code, tongue still sitting awkwardly in her mouth as it got used to having to form words again. There was an old pang of pain along her vocal cords but she knew there was nothing there now.

She resisted the urge to blow raspberries and shout out any word which came to her mind, an exercise in having to say words again.

The guard straightened up at the first part of the code.

"She'll always have a home with her brothers and sisters." The guard made to open the door to the warehouse, but Blake was already moving, having confirmed the place as a safehouse. The poor sod didn't see her draw Gambol and drive it harshly over his head, knocking him out.

He sank onto his knees before Blake caught him. She struggled with his weight as she dragged him into the side alley and unceremoniously dumped his unconscious body. Satisfied with her work done, she checked the street to make sure no one had seen her.

It was the time every outdoor worker dreaded, high noon. No sane man worked through this time, preferring to take a siesta and pick up work again after the worst hours had passed.

She had half an hour until the next guard rotation was up, more than enough time to perform recon and plan the best course of action. She tied a forearm ribbon to Gambol and sent it up to the roof, testing the hold by hanging onto it and walking up the side.

Three quarters of the way up, she peered into the wide windows and got her first glimpse of the inside. Dozens of large shipping containers sat stacked towards the back of the warehouse, most with SDC logos on it.

How the SDC estimated its lost inventory for tax purposes baffled her.

The few lights inside revealed nothing more except for a group of Faunus sitting around a green felt table, laughing rambunctiously and throwing cards onto the table.

Predictable.

The roof had the typical ventilation system and she slowly made her way across to it, keeping her footsteps light to avoid the noise of stepping onto the sheet metal roofing. She winced as the metal warped under her foot, a deep rumble spreading across the rooftop, but could do nothing but continue onwards.

She jammed Gambol in between the vent and the grate, working the metal backwards, forcing an opening large enough for her. She tested the hole and strapped Gambol back onto its holder as she delved deeper in the warehouse.

Reaching the first obstacle, she swung her feet to dangle over the vertical shaft. She planted one foot on the wall in front of her and the other on the opposing wall. Agonizingly slowly, she descended down the shaft, shifting feet down.

Taking a short break to catch her breath and wipe the sweat from her brow, she continued her journey until she reached a horizontal surface and collapsed, keeping her breaths short to avoid detection.

She sat there for a couple minutes, keeping her ears open for any suspicious noise. The sound of laughter and cursing echoed in the ventilation and she knew she remained undetected. The next ventilation grate was a couple metres in front of her and she dragged herself there, staring out onto a shadowed corner of the warehouse above a small built-in office space doubling as dorms.

Carefully prying the second grate out, she squirmed out onto the roof, taking in deep breaths of fresh air. She fixed her ponytail and stood up, still skulking in the shadows where the light didn't dare reach.

There were eight known threats in the warehouse and probably a few more lurking about, but they were inconsequential for she spotted her prize amidst their spoils.

A blue tarp was draped across the most versatile aircraft to ever be put into service. It was so prevalent, every single city-state used it, from transporting passengers and cargo, to strafing battlefields.

That was her bullhead.

Her luck hadn't fallen through just yet and she began exploring the deeper reaches of the warehouse, still ever so careful to avoid detection and always on the lookout for any stray White Fang members.

There were none to impede her passage.

She ignored the boxes labeled 'Dust' and focused on finding the ones labeled 'explosive' or 'ordinance'. No one strayed away from explosives, something about the innate need to blow things up existed within every sentient being. The Fang members still counted as sentient as much as she'd care to argue.

The third box she can across had everything she wanted. She removed one high fragmentation grenade and looked about her person for anywhere to store it, but found none. She desperately needed those leg pouches back. They were both sexy and functional.

The only thing she was missing now was a suppressor attachment to Gambol but her plan was flexible enough to not have to employ it.

She followed her path back up to the roof of the built-in and stared at the struts holding the roof up. It was an unnecessarily hard task to begin with as she held the grenade in one hand, lacking the pockets to shove it in and free both of her hands.

While her corner of the warehouse was obscured from lights, the struts weren't so. The lights from below would hide her presence, but it wasn't the same comfort of darkness; there was still daylight shining in through the windows to add.

Taking her time, she hopped up to the struts and worked her way across the warehouse. A particularly tricky section had her holding the grenade in her teeth as she was forced to use both of her hands and her powers of balance to continue.

She only stopped once she was above the poker table. Only a brief moment of regret flashed through her head. These were still people and they didn't need to die, but she doubted they would give up the bullhead without a fuss.

Working the taste of metal from her tongue, she pulled the safety clip from the grenade and held it in her other hand as she sat precariously on the struts. The pull ring came off next, joining the clip in her other hand, but she held the safety lever down.

She released the lever and waited for two seconds before releasing the grenade, watching as it landed on the river. The players only had half a second to take in the object before it exploded and sent fragmentation flying across the warehouse, painlessly ending their lives.

A piece of frag clipped her leg, drawing a thin rivulet of blood as she paid attention to the built-in, watching for any movement.

Five minutes passed before she dropped from her position, making sure there was no response, landing amongst the debris of table and bodies. She grimaced at the shredded remains of people she once cared about. Quick and painless was all she could promise anymore.

She flung the tarp aside, revealing the bullhead she had just committed murder for. It looked to already have been through several years of service, the hull dented and scratched from previous engagements.

The sliding door lightly screeched as she pulled it aside, stepping into the fuselage. Contrary to its exterior, the cockpit and consoled seemed to be in relatively well kept shape, the major instruments casting a weak glow.

She thumbed the ignition and checked the fuel levels. A little more than half, more than enough to see her through for the trip to Patch. The preflight checklist revealed only a small wear in the brakes, a small inconvenience for the VTOL aircraft.

Jumping out of craft, she walked towards the front metal shutters, rolling them open. The predictability of such a loud but empty district let her get away with practically anything she could think of.

She mused on the futility of leaving the lone guard alive. He was a loose end, but as a member of the White Fang, they couldn't go to the law enforcement and explain why they owned a warehouse full of stolen Dust and weaponry.

Adam would soon learn about the theft of the bullheads and the deaths of those stationed at the safe house, and from the description the guard would give him, he'd know exactly who to target in retaliation.

The bullhead rolled out of the warehouse onto the empty street, slowly coasting to a stop as the brakes struggled to fight against the weight. She quickly left the bullhead to close the shutters, returning the warehouse to its ordinary unremarkable state.

The engines spiraled to a chug at her command, winding up to appropriate thrust levels, the fire Dust priming the compression cycle of air. It was an old beast, the rotors working to rotate the engines to enough of a correct alignment.

The craft rolled forward at speed, the wings catching lift as it thundered down the street. She veered the craft northwest, plotting a course to the small island of Patch.

She could almost imagine the police sirens screaming in the background at her unauthorized takeoff.

Good luck catching her.

* * *

AN: Updates will most likely slow down to once a week as spring break has ended.


	4. Ice Cream

Chapter Four

* * *

 **Ice Cream**

* * *

I resisted the urge to summon a bowl of ice cream to dull the headache threatening to split my skull open. It tasted nowhere near as good as the ice cream I purchased from Fortescue's. That man truly had mastered the art of the frozen delicacy.

My vision tore into segments as my body reassembled on the familiar street in the Beacon district. My parasol followed along, materializing in my hand like a loyal pet at her master's command.

The bell jingled as I stepped into the cafe, Fortescue already smiling at the prospect of his most loyal and favourite customer. There was a short line in the ever popular establishment, but I was happy to wait as I stepped up to the counter and snatched one of the erasable placards and a marker.

There was the obligatory Neapolitan ice cream I always got. The last time I was here, I got strawberry for Summer. I toyed with the different flavors, but already knew which other ice cream I was getting. Roman would be distraught if I forgot his pistachio, and would be pissed if I tried to treat him to anything else.

I would win the ice cream war in the end. Nothing would stop the amazing combined powers of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. Tremble in fear peasants.

There was always the option of grabbing some strawberry for Summer, and I just managed to circle it as I handed over the placard, Fortescue always understanding of my disability.

"New friend?" I was halfway to cocking my head as a sign of confusion until I realized I'd never purchased anything other than pistachio and Neapolitan from him before. Timelines got very confusing once you lived through them already.

I nodded instead, happy my mute state would keep him from asking invasive questions. Not that he would, but it was nice to have a deterrent against such annoyances.

He handed the containers over and I handed him my card. The transaction took less minutes than words exchanged between us. It was the main reason I liked Fortescue. He was conversationalist in his own right, speaking through the art of ice cream rather than words.

Shuffling my parasol under my arm to grab hold of the bag, my dominant hand came up to my lips, palm to me, then moved forward and down in the universally understood gesture of thanks.

The bells announced my departure of the cafe and I dematerialised in a swirl of colour, zeroing on Roman's presence in the district. Frivolous use of Aura, but there wasn't a convenient bullhead for me to use or steal this time.

Ice cream was more important than the moral quandary of power abuse.

The familiar facade of Junior's club appeared in front of me as I finished the teleportation sequence, shaking off void crystals and making sure every part of me made it through the transit.

Do not, I repeat, do not EVER get lost in the void between physical planes. Those purple creatures sucked life force from anything vaguely alive. They slaughtered each other at random and they knew nothing of peace. Annoying shits.

I strolled past the bouncer, my presence causing him to shift in discomfort. He was twice my size in both height and width and I could smell the fear coming off of him. I wasn't that scary, was I? I was carrying ice cream. What was threatening about ice cream?

There was nothing off with my form. I looked down to check, but couldn't find any discrepancy. Brown slacks, white top. The usual outfit.

People were weird.

Freaking out Junior's men was a devastatingly easy pastime. They shied away from me as I skipped to where Roman was, my Aura seeking him out. Another guard stood in the doorway of Junior's office and tried to prevent me from entering. I ineffectively glared at him, but he chuckled and stood his ground.

Maybe some people weren't complete idiots after all. This called for drastic tactics.

My glare shifted into a woman's most dangerous weapon, the puppy dog eyes. My eyes gained a shimmer of colour and sheen, tears threatening to spill out onto my cheeks. The added lip quiver melted the rock of a man and he let me pass. I blew a kiss at him for his troubles.

Junior sat behind his desk, reclining in his chair with his feet on the wood and a cigar in his mouth. Roman sat across from his, similarly smoking. The horrid scent invaded my nostrils and I couldn't help but grimace, the acidic smell burning the back of my throat.

Everyone had a vice, but couldn't they have chosen a less invasive or less harmful one? Like ice cream, or killing... or ice cream. Roman swiveled in his seat, relief etched on his face as I finally made my appearance.

I snatched the cigar from his fingers and he briefly protested until I dropped a box of pistachio ice cream into his hands. He grumbled at the loss of his narcotic but made no further comment as I handed him a spoon. Junior looked at us funny, finding the interaction hilarious.

Nodding in satisfaction I had managed to get rid of one of those foul smelling things, I took my container and popped it open, taking a seat on the arm of Roman's chair. Junior got to keep his cigar, propriety demanding I couldn't just take it from him.

"You missed out on my presentation." Roman sulked while eating his ice cream, a blasphemy in itself. I took his bowler as his penance and blew a raspberry at him. He blew a strand of awry hair out of his eyes. "I had flashy, bright lights and slogans, the whole nine yards."

He looked genuinely dismayed at my absence during his meeting with Junior, but his pouty face was nothing compared to mine. I patted his cheek and reclined into his shoulder, devouring my treat with gusto. My hand did the 'go on' gesture for him to explain his new master plan.

"There's a shop a few minutes from here scheduled for an inventory replenishment in two weeks times. It's small enough to not warrant major protection, but large enough to have several tens of thousands of Lien in Dust."

I paid just enough attention to have him rambling about his plan. Nothing was ringing any dangers bells in my head yet.

"Around evening, a couple of Junior's goons will accompany me and help 'relieve' the owner of such expensive property." There was an warring lit in his voice I knew brokered his hatred about some predicament I wasn't yet privy to. Junior looked none the wiser. "You won't even be needed on such a simple heist."

And here came his protective streak. Something he wasn't willing to say in front of Junior, but was smart enough to turn into false bravado, trying to keep my curiosity in check.

Sweet, young, and naive Roman. Salem and her little minions weren't a danger to me as much as they were nuclear warheads to you. I doubted Salem had reached out to him so it was Cinder acting in her stead.

Cinder wasn't anything to sneeze at; intelligent and charming, but also impulsive and stubborn, too set on her goal to become a Maiden.

There were four of them in the first place, not that unique, and their abilities granted control of nature, but they weren't infallible.

Ozpin and Salem could snap their fingers, resetting timelines and creating life. The mastery over nature didn't seem adequate in comparison.

Which reminded me of the reason why I still felt what seemed to be a midget with a hammer wailing away at my brain. I'd have to have a stern talking with him and confiscate his hammer privileges.

Fucking irresponsible and complete inept idiots. The two petulant children under my care who had hard reset what seemed to be two universes by sending Team SKBN back to their original.

You do not fuck with the laws which govern reality!

PERIOD.

NO IFS, ANDS, OR BUTS.

At first glance, Team SKBN's interloping was being fixed by two beings who had the power to do so in the first place.

Yet both of them, with their combined intellect, didn't realise the consequences of doing so. It wasn't too much of their fault, in hindsight.

Only several millennia old, they didn't have nary a clue in how the multiverses functioned. They had taken the spots of gods amongst men and were already in place when I blundered in on their hot mess.

When Team SKBN punctured a hole in their own universe, it had sealed and healed over the injury, returning it back to its unmodulated state, which according to laws I somewhat understood, was perfectly fine because its heat death would prevail in the end.

Salem and Ozpin took the cycle of creation and death and directly broke not one universe, but two. The universe SKBN jumped into was terminated, having ceased to exist upon the reset, and the cycle was terminated before it could reach entropy.

This led to it exacting its toll on the neighboring universes, ripping through them without mercy until it exacted its hunger. It wasn't even a sentient process, but Salem and Ozpin had stolen from the cycle, and it needed to right their wrong. Energy, after all, couldn't be created from nothing, just as its destruction could not happen from nothing.

So, not only had they inadvertently massacred several trillions upon trillions of life forms, but they had continued the process across several other universes. Whether death counted for the non-existent, since the creation of SKBN's second dimension never happened, didn't matter. They had violated the rules and I had been unable to stop them.

In the end, the two idjits had created as many universes as they had ended, the return of SKBN to their original dimension causing an influx in the multiverses, the cycle demanding the excess energy so somewhere, rather than implode into a quasar.

But that wasn't all.

They hadn't just messed with the continuity of space, but they had royally screwed with the time continuum. Why there wasn't a supermassive black hole where this planet hovered in oblivion came as an immense relief.

The pattern of timeline fractures and possibilities had been severely modulated, not only by SKBN returning in time, but by them keeping their memories of their second dimension. And, you guessed it, another multiverse cascade as the timelines tried to right themselves.

If there was an actual God out there, with a capital G, s/he must be severely ticked off.

An old man with a thick white moustache, greying hair, and aviators sneezed as he worked on the next installment of his comic books.

Oh, that wasn't even the best part.

Salem and Ozpin had sent SKBN into the void between universes as protection from the reset, a leniency for the troubles they had gone through, but as neither had ever performed such a large manipulation of reality, they hadn't properly assessed the dangers.

SKBN's memory remained intact, untouched by the reset _and_ the multiple destructive cascades, but Salem and Ozpin had neglected to send their own souls into the void. They weren't nearly omnipotent or omniscient to avoid those calamities.

Can someone say, whoops? Yes, you reader, say 'whoops' and facepalm for me. I'm allowed to break the fourth wall because fuck you. I have enough crap to deal with just getting to this universe.

Everything was back to the way it should've been, minus about four years of time, four Hunters with memories they shouldn't have, and two deities who had no memory of the future.

Splendid. Now, where was the great big meteor I swore I redirected to hit this planet? Oh, there it was, flying through the empty expanse where Salem and Ozpin's brains should've been.

So many different lives, different names, different faces and yet it wasn't enough to learn the secrets of the multiverses. God was chuckling somewhere at our expense.

Roman nudged me out of my musing, concerned about the ever darkening expression on my face. When my usual expressions ranged between bored to carefree, positively murderous was not a good sign by any stretch. He stole the hat off my head, placed it back on his own, and tried to weasel out from under me and out of chair.

Junior started to inch out of his chair as well, seeing a cloud start to form over my head, my Semblance passively displaying my emotions. He jumped as a bolt of lightning lanced down onto my hair and a part of the illusion shattered, emulating the crack of thunder.

I swatted it away and my face melted back into a carefree smile, eyes alternating between pink, brown, white, and the occasional black to betray my roiling thoughts. My ice cream was demolished shortly after, quelling my headache greatly.

There was still the chance Salem and Ozpin retained their memories of the lost dimension, but when the dimension ceased to exist, there was the chance the memories ceased to exist, regardless of the protection granted from the void.

At least they hadn't been sent through the void between physical planes. Summer would've most likely been fine, but the rest of them would've been scarred. The void between dimensions was much nicer, a bleak existence where nothing exists, neither colour, sound, time, nor space.

I couldn't even properly check on SKBN. If they remembered, then they'd begin to question why I was checking on them and would suspect not everything was as it should be. If they didn't, then there was no danger, but the former danger outweighed the latter.

I couldn't check on Salem and Ozpin either. One was locked away in her pocket dimension, slowly gathering her strength, and believed it to be an inaccessible place. It would be a blatant violation of privacy to enter her domain and would tip her hand. Ozpin was more free to approach, but I had no reason to as the heist was too insignificant to drag him into and didn't involve him in any degree.

It was frustrating enough to deal with their squabbles when they weren't tampering with the very fabric of reality. I desperately needed Summer right here right now as an outlet. Maybe Nova would suffice as a punching bag, but they both sat in superposition until I checked on them.

The first meeting I would have with them was either on the kamikaze train from or when Roman got around to displaying his Paladin to the White Fang. Couldn't remember which event came first.

Roman completely misunderstood my dark demeanor.

"I mean, you can come if you want." He backpedaled on his statement, reminding me I wasn't alone in the room. He was sickeningly sweet, in a good way.

I shook my hug, showing him I wasn't interested in the grand larceny of Dust. Useful as it was, I had no personal need for it. He released a breath of air, sighing in relief at my refusal to tangle with Cinder's operation.

Money was his primary motivator, but he didn't want me getting involved. Whatever ludicrous sum Cinder was offering him was enough to keep me out of the way of harm and was enough to hire help in the endeavor. It was nice to be cared for.

Roman got a brief peck to his bowler hat as I made my exit. He didn't want me here and I respected him enough to follow his requests. I grabbed the ice cream bag and shuffled past the guard standing at the door, squeezing between him and the door frame. He let me have my fun at the challenge, his bulk making it nearly impossible.

My parasol thumped out a random beat as I pondered the absurd amount of free time I had until Roman's heist. He may not want me there, but I was the backup in case things went awry. I was going to be there afterwards just in case he needed to be patched up, his rare usage of Aura not expanding his reserves enough for more macabre injuries.

There was still the rapidly defrosting ice cream quart I needed to deal with. It dematerialised towards some point to the west, latching onto Nova's Aura signature. Hers shouldn't have changed too much from the hop back. If it did, then someone got surprise ice cream, and if it didn't, then… surprise ice cream.

* * *

Yang lay panting in exhaustion on the grass, sweat rolling down her skin after her spar with Ruby, who sat across from her in a much worse state, several bruises starting to form on her skin from her sister's rough handling.

A sudden container of ice cream appeared over Yang's head, comically hanging in the air as she stared at in confusion before dropping with a satisfying meaty thunk onto her forehead.

The sudden appearance of an object within Ruby's field had her intrigued, not having sensed it approaching them. She examined the rounded box, feeling out a lid. The lettering and words on the container were lost to her, but the smell of ice cream had a knowing smile appear on her face.

"Ice cream?" Yang stared at the box, rubbing out the red spot on her face. "Neo?"

"Neo." Ruby confirmed, digging her fingers into the treat and eating it before handing it over to Yang to try. Fortescue really did have the best ice cream on Remnant.


	5. Mirrors

Chapter Five

* * *

 **Mirrors**

* * *

The surprise ice cream gift did wonders for the two Hunters, bolstering their tired spirits. Yang did her best to take as much ice cream as she could from Ruby, not ready to have her collapse into sugar crash lethargy.. She didn't quite manage to get half of it, but it was still better than Ruby eating all of it.

They had at least one important task to accomplish before Tai made it home for the evening, no doubt having been asked to stay to properly close Signal for the summer. Neither of them had answers to why Ruby suddenly lacked two piercing silver irises. It would lead to dozens of other questions they couldn't answer for the sake of timeline continuity.

Someone hadn't taken kindly to their presence in the other dimension and rectified their presence there. They doubted Neo could, which left Salem, Ozpin, or some other deity they hadn't discovered yet.

Salem had wanted Ruby's help and gifted her Rei, and Ozpin was supposed to be the former Commander of Beacon, working with them to avoid destruction at the hands of his sister. Neo could've theoretically done it to screw with them, in line with her calling to mess with everything.

She had been kind enough to send them ice cream. Was it an apology gift for helping send them back home, a thanks for their services, or some other message she was trying to send?

Answers were only a few weeks away, but they had the option to affect events with better clarity than they did beforehand, not having to factor in their own destructive presence as duplicates.

They had at least a few months until they saw Neo for the first time and years until Salem left her pocket dimension. Not events they could hurry along.

Ruby and Yang discussed these ideas aloud, bouncing theories, hypotheses, and concerns off one another until they couldn't think of anymore. They weren't going to get answers to these from musings.

Yang dragged herself to her feet, a radiant blast of Aura cleansing her body from the worst of their workout, removing sweat, blood, and dirt. Ruby mimicked her, dangerously swaying on her feet from near complete Aura exhaustion before Yang placed a hand on her shoulder, steadying her and sharing some of her already near depleted Aura reserves.

There wasn't much to go around, but Yang could exponentially regenerate it in cycles of mass depletion and synthesis, stretching her reserves to hold more than they should. It created thousands of microtears in her system, but nothing was ever gained without work or pain.

As long as she didn't over do it, her Aura pathways would remain intact and wouldn't rupture, oversaturating her body with Aura and potentially causing organ failure or cancer. Much like how Ruby couldn't over accelerate the neurons in her brain for fear of causing a lethal brain hemorrhage.

In all their knowledge of field medicine, internal failures and injuries couldn't be treated as well as external ones, having to be left to the restorative part of Aura to deal with, yet it wasn't a miracle cure. Cancer fed off of Aura, large organ failure wouldn't be able to use Aura to regenerate, and even blood clots could hamper the healing.

They'd have to thread carefully in gaining back their former strengths. Blake was in the less harm, not having to develop her Aura abilities and could instead on her capacity and control. Everyone else didn't have such luxury, Ruby having to also cope with her disability.

Yang lifted the garage door, releasing a gust of stale air into their faces. Ruby padded behind her, content to follow for the time being. The jingle of keys caught her attention and she reached out for Bumblebee, squeezing the cold leather upholstery under her fingers.

"Get changed first." Ruby disappeared, leaving an afterimage of rose petals as she ran up to their room, Yang following at a more sedate pace, catching up as Ruby began rummaging about their dresser.

A small black shadow coalesced on top of the dresser, yipping as it finished entering the place, its tail wagging excitedly. Rei's eyes dimmed briefly before lighting up with a silver sheen, as Ruby held up different clothing up to her in inspection. She settled on a pair of dark jeans and a red tee, not too unusual.

"Are you inside Rei right now?" Both Ruby and Rei nodded in sync, further creeping Yang out. She waved a hand in front of Ruby's face, but got no response except for Rei looking at her. She then tried to pet Rei but the wolf refused, her head instead following the hand and licking it.

"I don't have full control of Rei." Ruby picked Rei up by the scruff of her neck, bringing her around to face her, effectively staring at her own face. "She's here to help me when she can." Rei disappeared in more wisps of smoke as Ruby put her back into the gem.

Yang changed as quickly as she could, throwing her workout clothes into the hamper in the corner of the room, donning her Bumblebee riding apparel, yellows and blacks streaking in stylish patterns across her form.

She chased after Ruby, her leader having already left to go back down to the garage, loudly barging into the area to find her standing patiently and waiting for her.

Ruby managed to turn around as an object entered her vision shells, catching a round object, feeling out the familiar contours of a helmet and placing it on her head, fastening it down. Safety first.

Yang took her spot on Bumblebee, both relieved and saddened her bike was back with her, the previous iteration having been destroyed or forgotten. The warm rumble of the engine starting up echoed throughout the small garage and Ruby nestled into Yang's back, wrapping her arms around her.

"Not going to ask where we're going?" Yang squirmed as Ruby's hands started wandering around her form fitting outfit, brushing across barely sensitive areas but avoiding starting anything, teasing her mercilessly.

"No. I like riding with you." Ruby stilled her hands and tightened her hold, leaving Yang unnecessarily turned on and needy. She held her tongue, ready to deliver a pun but not wanting to give her the satisfaction in succeeding at her ploy. She liked riding with _and_ on.

The engine roared as Yang revved and Bumblebee shot out of the garage, ripping down the dirt driveway leading to the country road. Ruby remained completely passive, near comatose as Yang's passenger with only her arms reminding her she hadn't fallen off.

Ruby kept her shells off, her brain not able to process the sheer amount of changing information passing through them. Monotonous as the shifting winds, and trees were, the former were dense enough to disturb the shells and send puzzling information back to her. The only constant was Yang and the motorcycle under her.

If she couldn't even process information properly at Bumblebee's speed, then she stood no chance of performing adequately at any higher speeds. It would be a bitter realization to the team when they learned of the development.

The rapid downward shift of gears under her told her they had arrived to wherever Yang was dragging her. Through the time it took to get here, she could infer they had arrived at one of Patch's fairly large coastal towns, the smell of the sea invading her nose.

That and Yang cursing as she managed to hit every single red traffic light on her journey, the bike starting and stopping suddenly, causing her passenger to jostle in her seat, head bobbing against Yang's back.

Ruby worked her magic, abating her road irritation with her skilled hands kneading her thighs. She could audibly hear the pleasant hum coming from Yang, smirking as the hum abruptly cut off with a sharp intake of air, her hands venturing a little too close to a certain sensitive area, pushing the limits of public decency.

Yang had to drive one handed for a while and forcefully shift Ruby's hands to back around her waist. Any further and she wouldn't be able to concentrate on the road, or would pull over and scar the inhabitants of the town who knew them for what she'd do to her sister in broad daylight.

Ruby activated her fields, finally being given a chance to figure out where Yang had absconded with her.

While Yang backed into a tight spot between two cars, Ruby took in a wide boulevard, her shells revealing dozens of people milling about on what seemed to be a regular relaxation day. Frustrated car drivers honked their horns, basic bitches discussed the latest fashion trends, and a few douchebags dared to whistle at Yang and her.

It didn't help Yang thrived off of teasing others, her leather bodysuit not leaving anything to the imagination. She ignored them, clipped her helmet to a convenient loop, and took Ruby's hand, squeezing it in assurance.

"Where are we?" Ruby had her head swiveled the face Yang, a natural habit when she could still see. She didn't bother staring at the storefront, her shells revealing nothing more than windows and an imperceptible store name.

"Party City." Ruby didn't need Rei to know Yang's grin threatened to take off her head. Taking Rei out in a public place would inspire panic if others realized what she was. Missing a face plate, she could potentially pass as a small wolf or dog, but there would be no mistaking the wisps of shadows making up her form or the glowing, bright red eyes.

No, it was better she remained in the gem and let Yang lead her around. Might as well get a collar for how useless she'd be at picking things out. That'd certainly make both Blake and Weiss' day, especially if she got custom tags to go with it.

"Why're we here?" This was a novelty store meant for purchasing Halloween costumes and party accessories. Not exactly Hunter level equipment, unless Yang was trying to throw a party which always involved copious amounts of alcohol, not being able to judge what others could reasonably drink.

Weiss knew her way around the event/party world much more, having the connections to the best ringers on the planet.

"You need something to hide those eyes from Tai and Qrow. Strapping on a blindfold or wearing shades will only make them curious. You'd get away with it at Beacon, but not here." The blank aisle names and monotonous shelved items left Ruby lost and alone in the store, relying on her tether to Yang to get around. "Here we go."

This part of the store looked just like any other part of the store, only with less people milling about. Yang forced a tiny box into Ruby's hands, and her Aura shifted in hue and brightness to show satisfaction. This was a guess of course, but this was Yang after all. Rarely ticked off and all smiles.

Ruby brought the box to her ears and shook it, but could only detect a small amount of liquid within. Yang got the absolute worst glare could Ruby could muster, her amethyst eyes being consumed by the endless void, the life in them diminishing until she wrenched her gaze away.

"Contact lenses." Ruby itched to release Rei in the store and have her maul Yang. Not like her teeth or claws could do much to her, but it'd be a nice show of her ire.

"My entire eye is black, not just the iris, unless I missed something from the last time you inspected them."

"Still better than leaving them out for Tai to see. He'd never let you go to Beacon if he learned you couldn't see. If you don't stare at people directly then it won't be a problem, and when we get to Beacon, you can follow Coco's style of wearing sunglasses everywhere."

It wasn't too bad of an idea. Much better than her usual 'punch first, ask questions later' plans which always ended up with more collateral damage than they knew what to do with.

"I'm going to need a pair of shades to go with this." Ruby juggled the pair of contact lenses, tossing it between her hands to keep her training with her shells going. The closer the box got to her form after traveling through the air, the more shells it broke through. She compared it to swimming and feeling movement while within, shockwaves being read by her skin and innermost shield.

Frankly, it was beyond nauseating and Yang would've to continue leading her in the more confusing areas. A collar was sounding a better idea by every passing minute, a red leash to go along with it, at least until she learned how to be slightly more competent than a two year old toddler.

Yang paid for their purchases, Ruby not being able to figure out which bills were which. Ruby shoved the contacts into her helmet as she maneuvered out onto the boulevard, Yang keeping close to steer her out of the way of trouble. Ruby seemed perfectly aware of where people seemed to be, along with trees, lampposts, the occasional dog, and a trio of rich schoolboys who tried to hit on them.

Ruby broke the first one's forearm when he tried to wrap it around her shoulders and then kneed him in his kidneys to keep him down. The other two backed off quickly, dragging their friend away from the 'crazy bitch with demonic eyes'.

Summer and Rei both thrived off the boy's fear and pain, but Rei wouldn't let Summer have any part of the emotions, greedily snatching and taking them for herself. Ruby could almost hear Summer pouting in the back of her mind, feeling robbed.

It seemed the last massacre hadn't been enough to satisfy her.

She stopped moving when Yang tugged her arm and pulled her into a store reeking of expensive perfume and soft pop music playing through the speakers. Not enough to be a perfume store, as Blake avoided those with a passion, but enough to display their opulence.

"Hi, how can I help you today?" Yang tried to shoo away the helpful attendant, but those people were trained to push product to the customers, especially new and inexperienced ones.

"Ray-Bans style, mirrored with a plain white frame." Ruby knew she couldn't steal Yang's style of aviators, nor Coco's wire-rimmed ones. The attendant looked a little startled to be facing someone who actually knew what she wanted and directed them to a small display as quickly as she could.

It definitely had nothing to with Ruby's unwavering gaze.

Yang picked the first pair matching Ruby's description and fitted it to her face. The white frame contrasted didn't suit Ruby's usual colour scheme, but the silver lenses obscured her eyes, a tribute to their original properties. Yang gave her confirmation about the shades, sealing the purchase.

They weren't too expensive, and Yang was tempted to rattle off the routing and account number to Weiss' trust fund, but she had more than enough to cover it from her illicit dealings with the underworld. It wasn't much, but there was always a demand for alcohol from underage teens.

They left the store as fast as they could, not wanting to put up with their offers for deals. Ruby only needed one pair, not three.

As they approached Bumblebee, Ruby was asked to stopped by two people entering her shells. She tried sidestepping them to reach the bike, but they just moved to block her.

"Can I help you?" Yang wasn't there to help or identify who was in her way. She reigned the grip on her shells tighter, condensing the outermost shells on the people in front of her, but couldn't get anything from them. It wasn't until a walkie-talkie chirped she could identity them as police officers.

"Is this the girl who broke your arm?" The first officer couldn't keep the disbelief from his voice as he spoke to a familiar Aura standing behind him. Pain clouded his puny Aura reserves, just enough to keep him alive.

"Yes sir." The boy was meek, completely different from when he tried to smoothly hit on Ruby.

"Is there a problem officers?" Ruby let her facade drop, icy chills shooting up the spines of the officers.

"This man claims you assaulted him and broke his arm." The pathetic boy tried to hide a smug smile at getting her in trouble.

"I reacted to a perceived threat. He walked up to me and tried to wrap an arm around my shoulder. Under the laws of Vale, that constitutes as assault, further amplified by my status as a Hunter-in-training."

The officers' demeanors shifted drastically from disbelief to how a little girl could've broken a lad's arm, to giving him looks of disbelief for daring to touch a Huntress, even one in training. It'd be a lesson to cure him of his approach to woman. Afterall, Ruby had three.

"Did you have to break his arm?" The second one chuckled

"Did he have to touch me to talk to me?" Ruby retorted, not willing to deal with the idiot cowering behind the officers, took her spot on Bumblebee behind Yang, shifting the contact lenses to her pocket and replacing the helmet on her head.

"He's lucky she only broke his arm. The last guy who tried that lost his." Yang revved her bike and the duo pulled out onto the street, expertly weaving between cars as they made they way out of town. They could hear the rage of indignation from the boy with the broken arm as he demanded why they hadn't arrested Ruby.

He was lucky they weren't arresting him.

They sped out of the town, tearing down the road leading to their house in the countryside. Tucked so far away civilization meant a great many more Grimm passed by the area to reach the town, but it was rarely occupied, thus Grimm didn't bother. And when it was occupied, they could deal with any stragglers, Tai always ready for some action.

It wasn't until Ruby and Yang had both reach Signal that Tai could join them there.

Their musings were interrupted by a louder roar of twin engines. There was no one on the road with them, but looking up, Yang could see the form of a bullhead skimming the canopy. A familiar occupant waved at them from within the cockpit before peeling off and gunning the engines again.

Ruby could noticeably feel the increase in speed as Yang accelerated, knowing enough to recognize the noise of a bullhead. She'd find out in a few moments who had challenged Yang either way, not wanting to extend her senses at high speed.

The quiet thrum of asphalt abruptly changed to beaten dirt as Yang drifted into their driveway, shooting past the garage and going straight for the backyard. She skid to a stop just before the descending bullhead, its engines whining as it was set down.

Ruby hopped off the bike, carding her fingers through her windswept hair and fixing her new shades up on her nose. She reactivated her vision fields, the image of a bullhead manifesting in front of me. Her better half's Aura instantly pinged off her senses.

Then a very fast object met the outermost shells and continued traveling at Ruby. She didn't have the time to brace herself, not even with her Semblance aiding her, before she was bowled over.

Once the world stopped spinning, Ruby could feel Blake sitting on her hips. She guessed Blake was grinning wryly as she place her hands on Ruby's shoulders and lowered her head to her ear.

"I love you too." Blake barely whispered, as if she was afraid her voice would disappear again, but it was enough for a pang of hurt, regret, and love to shoot through Ruby's heart. Summer remained graciously silent.

Blake had finally gotten the chance to say it back.

Actions spoke louder than words as she trailed a line of butterfly kisses, deepening them as she finally arrived at Ruby's lips and crushed them beneath her own. Blake's tongue met Ruby's in a brief battle and Ruby responded in kind, hands wandering about the curves of Blake's body, caressing her hips, ass, and thighs.

Blake sighed in pleasure and released the kiss, a trail of saliva still connecting her to Ruby. Molten gold tried to pierce through the reflective lenses to stare at the silver eyes hidden beneath them. Ruby obediently mimicked a cushion, wondering why Blake was staring at her so intensely.

Ruby got her answer when Blake reached forward and took the shades off, curious to the sudden addition to Ruby's ensemble. She had worn them to hide her eyes, her body should've been restored in the time jump. A pair of black eyes peered out when Blake lifted the lenses and she replaced the shades.

She began an inspection of Ruby, looking for the scars she was all too intimate with. The lacerations and burns on her arms she had kept hidden previously were nowhere to be found, and the permanent line of scarring around her neck as also nowhere.

Ruby had yet to reveal the gem on her back along with the black veiny cracks reaching out from it, having changed facing Yang earlier. They'd find about it the next time they got intimate.

"Do I get a kiss and inspection?" Yang had taken a seat just to the side of them and watched Blake attack Ruby.

She got her answer in the form of a pouncing feline, letting her tackle her to the ground in her form of an enthusiastic greeting. She left Yang more turned on than ever as Blake roughly claimed her lips, not holding back in the slightest. Ruby's earlier teasing wasn't helping in the matter.

She switched to nuzzling her neck as Yang ran a hand down her spine, forcibly pressing Blake down onto her. Ruby could hear the deep purr emanating from Blake's chest, the rumble washing over her.

Now they were only missing one, who unbeknownst to them, was shooting across the sea towards Patch.

Then they would take on the world...again.


	6. Impressions

Chapter Six

* * *

 **Family**

* * *

Ruby amended her earlier statement of being ready to take on the world.

She could maybe take on a Beowolf or two with her limited body. Out of the other three on RWBY, Yang was the most suited for combating Grimm, possibly being able to take on larger Grimm such as Creeps and Ursa. Blake had been more involved with the White Fang, not focusing on Grimm combat, and Weiss had been stuck in Atlas, playing the perfect heiress.

No one was anywhere close to their previous capabilities as SKBN. Blake was the closest to Kara, needing to only work on her control of her Semblance and expanding her reserves. It was Weiss and Yang who had the most work ahead of them if they wanted to regain their SS-ranks.

Weiss at present state could barely hold a couple of glyphs in place, while concentrating, as opposed to the passive concentration she once used to maintain hundreds at a time. Yang needed to just purely expand her reserves which took more time than it did work and couldn't be hurried.

Ruby was actually in the biggest danger when it concerned reaching her former strength as the High Commander. With the loss of her vision, she needed to precisely apply her Semblance to her neurons to keep information processing as fluid as possible. It did wonders for her control but she didn't have enough Aura to constantly keep her vision field up and accurately feel through them.

She had a nice excuse of being two years younger than her team if anyone wondered about her struggles, but it wasn't an excuse she would let herself use. She couldn't afford to be a liability for her team as a leader, even if they could operate without her on the field.

"You look very weird with sunglasses on." Yang wasn't afraid to state her opinion as they waited for Blake outside their bathroom. She was taking her sweet time, basking in the hot water and pressure, steam escaping through the crack between the door and the floor.

Cats and water usually didn't mix but Blake loved to lounge in hot baths, especially with her team.

"It might be weird, but at least people will be able to talk to me without flinching." She was quite aware of the effect her eyes had on people. Blake could hold the longest eye contact with her, but even her bright golden irises dimmed against the leeching call of the void.

Not yet tested against Grimm. She made a mental note to test it and scared Summer into not tearing the notes to shreds, filing it away for later. Rei tried to take the note from her but she got a stern warning not to eat it. She pouted but went back to keeping Summer occupied.

"They might need to become a permanent accessory. Remember how Ozpin reacted to you losing one of your eyes? Imagine when he learns you lost both and left yourself blind." Yang tried hard to keep the grin off her face about Ruby's disability, but couldn't. Sure it was going to be a pain having to relearn how to 'see' but so was learning how to fight with a mechanical arm and learning hand signs.

"Salem seemed genuinely surprised when she learned Ozpin didn't heal my body or my eyes." Blake was no doubt listening at the door as she tried to dry off her hair. She must've given up as she stepped into the hallway, still sopping wet in a set of loose loungewear borrowed from Yang.

She didn't need to say anything for them to know what she wanted. She padded down the stairs to the living room, sitting in front of the couch and flicked on the TV, pointlessly scrolling through channels until she landed on the news.

Ruby vaulted over the railing and landed behind the couch. Another vault placed her directly behind Blake, sitting on it. Blake handed her the towel and she began the process of drying Blake's long hair. A small object sailed through the air and she caught it absentmindedly, feeling it out to be a comb.

Lacking vision, every part of Blake seemed intensely more intimate. Her feline ears twitched at every touch and she started to purr, a sound long forgotten. Ruby played with the strands of her hair, massaging her scalp while she combed out tangles.

Blake melted when Ruby reached her neck, sagging against the couch and closed her eyes, relaxing into Ruby's ministrations. She didn't react when she felt Yang place her head in her lap, her own hands automatically tangling in thick golden locks.

Cue entrance of the Xiao-Long patriarch.

"Girls! I'm home!" Tai stepped through the front door, grandiose as ever. He fully expected a running tackle from at least one of his daughters and he braced himself. Ruby noted his presence in her fields, but didn't react to him at all, continuing with her task. Yang was too lost in limbo and Blake kept her usual silence.

Zwei was the first one to greet him, bouncing along his tiny legs. He only had to bark once to get Tai's attention and was picked up immediately and cuddled in Tai's arms.

"At least someone remembers to greet their dad when he returns from work." Tai continued to receive no attention from Ruby, not being able to see over the couch to spot Yang and their guest. He moved over to the couch to place Zwei on it and noticed where his first daughter was.

"Hey little dragon." The purring in the room abruptly cut off as Blake finally realised they weren't alone anymore. He made note she was laying on someone's lap and willingly letting someone touch her hair. Ruby got her hair ruffled by her uncle. "I see we have a guest."

Blake sluggishly waved as Ruby refused to let up her combing and massaging. Tai wasn't anyone new to her, but she was completely new to him.

"Dad, this is Blake." Ruby tilted her head back in a facsimile of a stare, letting Tai see himself in her sunglasses. She avoided mentioning Blake's last name in case Qrow came snooping and wondered why the princess of Menagerie was at Tai's place on Patch. Secrets didn't stay secrets for long in this household.

Unless you counted the circumstances of Ruby's conception, but that wasn't a secret to Ruby or Yang anymore.

There wasn't a particularly good segway to mentioning they knew Tai wasn't Ruby's father and that Ruby wasn't actually Yang's half sister, but was actually her cousin by Raven and Qrow's relationship to each other. Which meant Ruby's relationship with Yang wasn't completely incestual, but they hadn't known that tidbit in the first place.

Their family tree wasn't a nice thing to draw out, not to mention Tai and Qrow still held seething amounts of animosity against one another. They knew Ozpin was somewhere up high as Ruby's ancestor, but they wouldn't be surprised if Salem or Neo showed up as well.

They'd have to fix their relationship for them. A quick trip to Patch General, a copy of Ruby's birth certificate, and a bottle of alcohol to soothe everything over. Their Summer was dead and Raven was AWOL somewhere near Vacuo, which left Tai and Qrow as the last members of STRQ in Vale.

"Ruby, could you stop molesting her ears so I could talk to her?" Ruby did as Tai ordered, but it was Blake who turned around and glared at him. Ruby flicked one of her ears and she startled, switching her glare to Ruby. Those mirrored sunglasses revealed nothing. "And take the glasses off while you're indoors. You can't see anything."

"Yang bet me I couldn't go without wearing something new and then I turned it into low-light environment training where I can barely see anything." She put a small emphasis on the 'see' part. She could technically visualise and erroneously 'see', but it wasn't an all out lie. Yang went along with her leader's plans. "I'll come in handy for night time missions when I become a Hunter."

"You still have a long ways to go munchkin." Blake released a pent up breath, disguising it as another pleasurable sigh. "Two years until you finish Signal and then get accepted to Beacon."

"Hmm." Two weeks actually. She couldn't remember exactly why she was in the Beacon districts in the first place, but she was sure she could finagle some way to get there, especially since Blake brought a bullhead with her.

"So tell me Blake, how do you know my daughters?" Tai looked utterly relaxed, assuming correctly Blake wasn't a threat to at least his daughters, but his forearms and hands had traces of tenseness.

Blake started a sequence of hand signs, nearly completing three before Ruby nudged her with her foot. Tai's eyes narrowed, catching the mistake and the first few words, but remained silent.

"I've known them for about a year." Lying to Tai was never a good thing, because lying to him was equivalent to lying to Qrow Branwen. Their personal lives aside, if Tai needed information on someone close to Ruby and Yang, then Qrow would perform a full background check. "I hope to be on a team with Yang when we get to Beacon."

It wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume Qrow knew of the Belladonnas as the rulers of Menagerie. Cut off Blake's hair and you get a carbon copy of Kali, a resemblance he wasn't going to miss.

She was also sure Qrow knew she'd been missing from Menagerie for the last few years. Her parents had, no doubt, sent messages to the four city-states, both as pleas and missives to alert them of their wayward child.

There was also the chance Qrow wasn't as well informed as she suspected. At this present time, he could know nothing about the Belladonnas, or the fact she was registered as a missing minor.

She still couldn't just say she had known Yang and Ruby for four years. Ruby had been in Signal for those four years and hiding a friend while she was at Signal wouldn't have worked as Tai also worked there, doting upon her. Ruby hadn't yet authorized their official stance on their past, but she was keeping her eyes hidden for now.

Give just enough information to sate his curiosity, and a good reason to keep him from asking any invasive questions. As a potential Hunter, Tai could respect her need for privacy as any Beacon applicant was subject to a rigorous background check performed by Ozpin and Qrow, and the year timeframe coincided with her dropping off the grid with the Fang, leaving Qrow little to go on.

"You want to be a Hunter? Well you certainly weren't trained at Signal. One of the other smaller academies in Vale then?" Basic interrogation tactics, fishing for information without pressing for direct answers, giving the illusion of control for Blake to choose how she answered.

"Self-trained." It was the only correct answer. If she said any other school within Vale, then Tai had the authority to check her records for any Blake who finished schooling this year, was a Faunus, and officially applied to Beacon. Instant red flag. If she said she came from Menagerie, then Tai might not have the authority to check her records, but he'd wonder why she came to Beacon. Sure it was the premier Academy in Remnant, but no Faunus left Menagerie for potential racism. Another red flag.

"Not many recruits make it through the initiation. You should know they only take the best." Now came the scare tactics to freak her out about her decision, trying to knock her off balance. He was doubting her abilities as a Hunter, not an easy slight to ignore, and he knew he succeeded in his ploy.

"..." Blake chose to remain silent and smile, a tactic devastatingly effective when she couldn't think of a response. Her creepy smile unnerved Tai and he let the questions drop; it reminded him of a younger Glynda.

She could've flipped the slight to leave him off balance, tying her success at Beacon to his daughter, stating her desire to partner with Yang, but that would've opened up a whole new line of questions. He had no doubt noticed the closeness shared between the three of them with Yang allowing Blake to touch her hair. It would also imply she and Yang knew how to fight together if she was set on partnering with her.

Allaying the question wasn't going to stop an inquisitive Hunter, but his outward demeanor shifted from barely hostile to friendly, dropping the firm hold he had on his Aura. Noticing the shift, Ruby resumed her previous job with Blake's hair, notifying her the interrogation was over, which prompted her to resume her job with Yang's hair.

Which started the second round of interrogation. Less hostile from a Hunter's standpoint than the first one, but much more from a father's standpoint.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but Faunus don't generally allow others to touch their ears." Ruby didn't even flinch at the mistake she made, but Rei was positively giddy with the amount of distrust and suspicion coming from Tai. She sicced her onto Summer, the alter-ego frantically running from the suddenly super-powered wolf cub. "Usually only allowing immediate family members and mates."

Tai's eyes were darker than ever before as Dad Tai overtook Hunter Taiyang. Overbearing with a streak of protectiveness would be an understatement. Tai subconsciously released the hold on his Aura, letting it rush down to his limbs. His Semblance began to do its work.

Great.

Now all they needed was Yang to go into her martial dance and the house wouldn't last a few minutes.

Ruby nudged Yang with her foot, letting her know something was wrong. Sensor or not, Yang could definitely feel their dad's Aura begin to manifest itself. She moved her arm to brush against his foot and began to siphon his Aura, nominally replenishing her own.

Another different foot nudge let her know it was working as Ruby sensed the violative nature of Tai's Aura ebb back into his core.

Tai frowned at the sudden feeling of his Aura retreating, his Semblance deactivating as it lacked the Aura to fuel itself. His sabbatical at Signal must've severely dampened his Aura control if he burned through this much for the brief moment his Semblance was activated.

He had all the time during this summer to train against Ruby and Yang.

"Usually, but she pouted at me." Blake had to consciously keep from signing out her thoughts this time.

Ruby's pout was a her most powerful weapon, bar Crescent Rose. He could see how she'd fall under its charming gaze. It didn't, however, explain her familiarity with Yang.

"Yang never lets people touch her hair." Not even Ruby could touch her hair without a large fuss being made. To have a relative stranger, a one year friend, come into their house and play with her hair was too much of an error to ignore. Yang burned people who touched her hair. She wasn't supposed to lay there like a five year old discovering what a sugar crash was for the first time. "What exactly are your relationships to my daughters?"

There was no getting out of this direct question. Avoid it and he became suspicious, but answer it wrong as she'd have to borrow Ruby's Semblance to avoid Tai's wrath, and she wouldn't have Yang's near endless pools of Aura to help her. Then she frowned as she realized she didn't have access to Ruby's Semblance just yet.

It was time to screw with him.

"I'm dating both of them." Blake delivered her statement with the straightest face she could muster, causing Ruby to abruptly pull on one of her ears, expressing her reprimand. She couldn't run damage control right now and could only roll with it.

Zwei perked his head up at Blake's seemingly ridiculous statement, sharing a look with Tai. His utterly confused expression had Tai dissolving into a fit of hysterical giggles. Blake was glad her words had thrown him for a loop, giving her some control for the next questions sent her way.

"Good luck dealing with the both of them." Tai wiped away a tear, further relaxing into the couch, returning back to the lovable father figure they all knew him as. "If you can somehow balance the two of them, then I'll gladly welcome you to the family."

Completely not the response Blake was looking for. He'd taken her screwing and screwed right back with her. Maybe she was just paranoid and couldn't distinguish good-natured conversation from a casual interrogation.

Tai stood from the couch with Zwei trailing behind him. He worked a few cricks from his back and walked out towards the backyard, stopping right before the door. "Let's spar Blake." He didn't wait to hear their answer.

"You were treating your entire conversation with Tai like an interrogation, weren't you?" Ruby tried to assuage some of the tension Blake had in her shoulders, but the feline pulled Ruby's hand free from her hair, retreating to scratching the back of her head sheepishly. "You're becoming paranoid."

She didn't offer any words of protest and waited for Ruby to finish with her hair, the familiar tug of hair backwards marking the return of the ponytail...er...cattail. She ran up to Ruby and Yang's room, grabbing Gambol Shroud from its resting place on one of the beds before launching through the window.

Tai stood by and watched her kick up dust from her impact, the relentless sun and lack of summer rain turning the ground hard and unforgiving. Ruby and Yang chose to stand on the shade of the house, Zwei joining them by hopping into Yang's lap.

She didn't necessarily want to spar with Tai, but she understood this was how he accepted people. Put up a fight, and you got a shimmer of respect from him. Considering she wanted to be on Ruby and Yang's team, she needed it from him, especially if she wanted to continue 'dating' the two of them.

It'd be a nice wake-up call when he realized she wasn't kidding about her intentions. It'd be even better when they introduced Weiss.

A leaf broke off a tree and lazily sailed in the wind. The two fighters paid it only a smidgen of attention, silently agreeing to use it as a marker.

The leaf landed.

Tai was running at her at a much slower pace than Ruby, willing to test her before he fought seriously. To him, she appeared wide-eyed and tensed up, the picture of fright and shock. He was disappointed when he landed a direct hit to her face before his eyes widened at the simultaneous impact of small bullets grazing his limbs and the explosion of the fire Dust clone.

The overextension of his punch had her stepping to his side and slamming a fist into his abdomen, avoiding any major pressure points. Against shielded Hunters, they were useless, while blunt force took more to defend against.

Almost predictably, Tai shrugged off the blow and transferred his overextension to a pivot, bringing his back leg around to catch Blake in her chin. She let it pass by, chasing after it with Gambol. If fists were useless, then maybe a knife.

He managed to avoid the sword aiming to sever his foot. In a flash of yellow, he was back up and engaging her in a martial arts fight, a fight she knew she had absolutely no chance of winning.

Another clone took her place as Tai attempted to knee her, sapping the rest of her Aura from her. The ice Dust caught his leg in an awkward position, letting her again step to the side and bring Gambol up to his throat.

Ruby started clapping as soon as Yang did, not having been able to see the fight at all. Vague blurs, and black and orange Aura pinged off her budding sensor abilities, but nothing more.

"You have some skill." Tai sounded not at all disappointed he had lost the short engagement, just as Blake wasn't too happy with her performance either. She knew he wasn't trying during the fight. He underestimated her on purpose, wanting to see how she fought.

She had delivered, correctly displaying her Semblance and her ability to gauge and end fights before she lost control of them.

She had revealed too much in her folly to end the fight however. She had displayed the ruthless capacity to lethally attack with her bullets and Gambol. Instead of flashy displays of Aura and Semblance, she tried to cripple Tai with her second counterattack to his kidneys. It wasn't an attack used by Academy students, but by those fighting to survive.

If Tai had shown any of his skill as a member of Team STRQ, then he'd have approached carefully, treating her as a hostile with an unknown Semblance. He had wanted to draw her Semblance out, a practice he employed as a teacher at Signal.

She had won the spar, but Tai had learned more about her than she wanted to reveal. In her effort to prove herself to her future father/uncle-in-law, she revealed more secrets than necessary, but Tai had put her in a lose-lose situation, gaining no matter how the spar ended.

Ruby was right, she was getting paranoid.

She smiled in thanks at his praise and sheathed Gambol, collapsing in the shade next to Yang.

"You might have a chance at Beacon with what you showed me." Tai flew into his lecture mode, perfected with his time at Signal. "You displayed the initiative, cunning, and lethality needed as a Huntress. You avoided the common pitfalls associated with misconceptions in the field and you used your Semblance brilliantly to counterattack at every turn and quickly end the spar."

He got an eyesmile for his report. She wasn't going to press for a more detailed report where he started wondering where exactly she picked up the habit of eliminating a target before they could fight back. Chalk it up to her past spars with Yang where she needed to win within the first few moments or she'd lose the battle of attrition.

"A few more weeks of training and you'll have Yang begging to be your partner." There it was, the acceptance she wanted. She didn't want Ruby and Yang to decide between herself and Tai. "You're going to need it if you want to manage both Yang and Ruby." His eyes danced with mirth and she couldn't tell if he believed her earlier words, or was just willing to entertain their prank on him. "Will you need the guest bedroom or will you be sharing with them?"

She didn't even need to ask.

"As long as you have a set of earplugs for yourself, we'll be fine." Yang answered for Blake, sticking with the habit of having to speak for her all the time.

"I'll turn on some white noise. Try not to be too loud." Tai couldn't resist chuckling. There would be revenge and shenanigans when they had the time. They were all pretty damn good actors. Ruby needed a little coaching, but nothing so severe. She'd be the lynchpin.

Tai never noticed the creepy smile on Blake's face.

* * *

AN: As always, leave a review.


	7. Paranoia

Chapter Seven

* * *

 **Paranoia**

* * *

Taiyang wasn't the Deputy to the Headmaster of Signal only because of his good looks and charisma. After the dissolution of Team STRQ, he had asked Ozpin to be relocated to his home island of Patch. Ozpin hadn't been willing to let such a talented Hunter retire and had instead tasked him to teach his skill to the next generations of Hunters.

It had taken over a decade, but he had turned Signal into the premier intermediary Academy before Beacon. Students from the mainland applied for his school once they turned of age rather than go to ones closer to them. He was even slated for the role of Headmaster when the current one retired.

He had taught hundreds of students, beat them down until they had enough skill to graduate as Hunters, or be transferred to Beacon for further training once they became adults. He had molded the worst students into passable Hunters, and similarly broken prodigies set in their prideful ways.

But none of his former students ever displayed such skill as Blake did a few hours previous. Their fight was keeping him awake as he lay in his bed. The full moon wasn't helping as its silver beam illuminated the room.

Spars between Hunters were meant to gauge the skills needed to take on more foreboding Grimm. Signal's graduates could all take on the lower level ones, but only those who made it to Beacon were authorized to take on Nevermores, Griffons, Nuckelavees, and Drakes.

Blake had displayed none of the traits needed to effectively deal with Grimm, but she had displayed a terrifying degree of skill needed to fight against people. She had preyed on his assumption, most likely from spars with Yang, that he'd charge forward and engage her in close quarters.

He had thought she had frozen up at the start of the fight, surprised at his quick engagement. Her Semblance wasn't anything to brush aside, but it was the counterattack hidden within the clone which made him pause.

The fire Dust would have at least severely burnt any Hunter not able to muster a proper shield and the follow-up bullets masked by the smoke would've killed any smaller Grimm or human. She had specifically aimed for extremities, rather than his torso or head.

Her second counterattack was a disabling shot rather than a retreat, a tactic used by the less experienced to buy time and make space, but she had used the overextension and smoke to hide and attempt to end the fight.

It could've been the smoke, but he swore she disappeared from his vision until after her attack had landed. She had a very versatile Semblance.

When he had tried to blindside her with a return kick, she had moved away, almost as if expecting it, luring him in for another attack. She preyed on his need to attack, a style he never got the proper handle of fighting against.

She hadn't thrown an attack without first negating his own and she had taken his incapacitating knee as a chance to lock him in place and land a lethal blow.

She had had the opportunity to 'kill' him and she had taken it. His spars with Yang and Ruby didn't end until one of them was in the dirt from a complete lack of Aura.

Blake had stated she wanted to go to Beacon and said she was self-trained, but she never said she was trained in combating Grimm. Someone had trained her in the art of assassination. She displayed a ruthlessness found in seasoned Hunters, the deception needed use his weakness against him, and the skill needed to put her plan into place.

Yet, she had also displayed the detachment needed to switch between who she was on the field, and who she was on her downtime. She was absolute putty in Ruby's hand and Yang had let her get close enough to touch her hair, no mean feat by his standards.

The more he learned about her, the more questions he had for her.

It didn't help Ruby and Yang seemed to be in on her plan to keep her secrets from him. She hadn't revealed her family name either which left Tai without a foothold to begin his inquiry into her past. Faunus she may be, but he had nothing against them. No last name, no school, no age, and no concrete past.

A first name and a pair of feline ears was all he had.

She was a ghost.

He would've asked her to leave his home if Ruby and Yang didn't act so relaxed in her presence. One year wasn't near enough time to create such a bond, especially since both of them were at Signal for the better part of the year and Blake hadn't been a student there.

The bullhead in the backyard hadn't revealed anything either. The identifying code on its tail had been scratched off. He hadn't had the time to sneak away to check the interior. Not until right now.

It was the sound of a descending bullhead which snapped him from his stupor. The sound of a takeoff got louder, not quieter. Whoever was piloting had cut off most of the engine power and drifted into his backyard, only applying backward and vertical thrust at the last possible moment.

It wasn't the easiest maneuver to perform and resulted in pilots more often than not plunging the craft into the ground and damaging the hull.

There was silence while the engines spun down and he crept to his window, catching a figure in white making its way towards his house. _She_ , he corrected, noticing the flowing mane of white hair reflecting in the moonlight.

Her gait wasn't cautious in the slightest and she didn't draw the rapier at her hip. A muted white snowflake within a circle appeared just under Ruby and Yang's window, shining weakly in the darkness.

He refrained from stopping the Schnee as she knocked on their window, the sound of a fingernail lighting tapping on glass reverberating across the walls. Someone inside the room opened the window after a short while and grabbed the Schnee, pulling her in violently.

Whatever whispered conversations the four were having were lost on him. They were speaking quietly enough where pressing his ear against the wall and channeling Aura to his eardrum wasn't enough to pick up anything.

It took a few minutes of waiting before anything happened and Tai wondered exactly what Ruby and Yang had gotten themselves into as he saw them leave their house with weapons and packs.

The most important details of their escapade wasn't the fact they were leaving, but how they were decked out. Ruby forwent her red cloak and only carried Crescent Rose and a small pack, while Yang had Ember Celica tucked under her sleeves and her hair tucked into her hoodie.

There was something severely wrong with the entire picture.

He watched as they climbed into the bullhead without any fuss. The moonlight let him see it was Ruby sitting in the co-pilot seat and Blake sitting in the pilot's seat with the Schnee behind her and Yang behind Ruby.

Blake cheekily saluted him as she noticed him in the window. He watched as she lifted the bullhead from the ground and shot off towards mainland Vale.

More questions seemed the arise the more he learned. Ignorance really was bliss. He regretted not going to sleep and then dealing with the missing Ruby and Yang in the morning.

The house was eerily quiet knowing he was the only one inside. He had never been in the house alone before, always having Ruby and Yang with him since they were attached to Signal.

There was a yellow sticky-note on their door.

 **Gone for a trip with Blake. Be back in a few days. Love, Y + R**

It was written in Yang's hand, interestingly enough. Usually, it was Ruby leaving cutesy little notes if she was going to do something reckless, the guilt of her actions getting the better of her. It could mean she didn't think what she was doing was reckless, or Yang had subverted her efforts.

There was something awfully wrong with Ruby as well. She never left the house without her cloak and was the first one to greet him when he returned home, racing Zwei to hug him. The sunglasses quirk was small enough to chalk up to Ruby's training exuberance, but the lack of cloak was unusual.

And the way Blake, Yang, and the unknown Schnee had deferred to her was unusual as well. Not giving the pilot's seat to Ruby was natural as she had no flight experience, even with how intuitive the controls were, but Yang should've been the one in the co-pilot's seat as the older and more experienced.

He was lacking information, but he was a former member of STRQ. Qrow was still an active member of the Hunters. He composed a quick message and set it to be sent in the morning.

He needed sleep if he wanted to pick Qrow's brain later.

* * *

He woke up to the incessant ringing of his scroll, a particularly annoying klaxon he had set for Qrow's number. He let it ring for a few seconds, letting it pull him from his slumber before he answered.

Qrow's stubbled and smiling face popped up on the screen, completely unmarred by the early hours of the morning. He did have shadows of bags under his eyes, betraying his nocturnal activities.

"First time you call me in weeks and it's not even a 'hello'. I'm hurt." Qrow scratched his chin, the rustle of his stubble crackling across the speakers. "I have Winter call me more often."

"I'm sure she calls just to vent at your stupidity." Tai quipped, slipping into their characteristic banter. "I have a job, and you have yours."

"C'mon Tai, I only get two weeks off during the year."

"Officially." Tai deadpanned, knowing Qrow could disappear off the radar whenever he wanted to and come to Patch to annoy him. Ozpin could do nothing against it with how valuable his function as spymaster was. "Half the time I wonder what exactly your role is as a Hunter?"

Function creep had demanded his role to keep expanding, going from listening posts watching for potential Grimm nests, to fishing for information about potential terrorist cells, subverting plans, and spreading misinformation.

He was the balance keeping the Council and the White Fang in check.

"Half the time I wonder when I stopped being a Hunter." It had been so long since he had taken a mission involving Grimm. Years ago, when Summer had died, he wanted out; wanted to forget the team, wanted to forget what he had had with her. He couldn't even bear to look at the three year old Ruby, her silver eyes reminding him too much of Summer.

The drinking had started soon after.

Ozpin took him under his care, manipulated him to stay as his second right hand. He didn't have an official function until Qrow had suggested his current role, and he had taken to the work in gusto, willing to forget about his previous life as a member of STRQ.

Half a decade into his new job, a moment of sobriety had him returning to Signal and collapsing in front of Tai, begging for his forgiveness. Ruby and Yang hadn't been old enough to remember him, and Tai, in his mercy, had let Qrow back into their lives as their uncle. He had missed his chance to be Ruby's father, and he wasn't going to throw a second chance away.

Tai had put his foot down about his drinking and forced him to greatly curtail it. The resulting detox had nearly killed him and they had learned he couldn't function without at least a drink here and there. He was, in essence, the perfect functioning alcoholic.

"Once a Hunter, always a Hunter." Tai recited their mantra, ingrained into their skulls from their years at Beacon. Hunters didn't retire, and Ozpin was never going to let those who could serve go. Although glorified by the countries and people they served, few ever went into its voluntary service. They weren't paid, and there were much safer alternatives.

"So why'd you message me?"

"I can't just call to say 'hello'?" Tai threw Qrow's own insult back at him, grinning condescending. Qrow returned a look of boredom. "I have a guest staying with me and I need information on her."

"One of Ruby and Yang's friend? I see nothing to worry about."

"Yang let her touch her hair." Qrow choked on his drink, committing blasphemy by spilling some from his mouth. Tai knew he'd never do so if he could avoid it. They knew how possessive Yang was of her hair.

"And you don't know who she is? She didn't just walk out of thin air, did she?"

"I've never seen her before yesterday." That was a massive breach in their security net surrounding the two. Tai was the overprotective one and Qrow served as the method of giving him some peace. "I got nothing from her but her name. She dodged every question I threw at her and when we sparred, she went for the kill."

"You're getting old if you let a girl of Yang's age get the better of you." There was a dangerous and curious gleam in his eyes, hidden behind the lit of his teasing. "Can I get a description?"

"Her name is Blake. She's 5'11", has black hair, golden eyes, and is a cat Faunus with slitted pupils, black feline ears, and sharpened nails. She's deadly with her weapon, a kusarigama/pistol combination, and proficient with her Semblance, the ability to create Dust clones to take hits, yet she doesn't appear registered as a student anywhere in Vale."

"As of last year's census, there are approximately 200,000 Blakes living in Vale, of which only 3% are female, leaving 6,000 people to track. Of those, only 2% percent are classed as Faunus, leaving 120. It's still not enough information. Do you have a picture?"

"Sending it over." He had managed to take a discrete picture as he was leaving the backyard after their spar. Stalker-ish? Definitely. But when it came to his daughters' protection, privacy didn't exist.

Qrow opened up the image, eyebrows deeply furrowing and lips twisting into confusion. He made to speak, but words seemed to escape him. He eventually took several gulps of his drink before scratching his chin and inspecting the image again.

"I know who she is." This certainly was a nice surprise, but it was suspicious how quickly Qrow had found it who she was, not having ran her face through any recognition software. "She was smart not to tell you her name. If I didn't know her mother and father then you'd be shit out of luck."

"Who is she then?" Tai was beyond intrigued.

"Her full name is Blake Belladonna, the princess of Menagerie. She's been missing from her home for the last six years and is suspected in dozens of White Fang operations ranging from armed protest to grand larceny. She dropped off the grid a year ago, disappearing from society and the Fang entirely."

"So what's she doing in Patch and how does she know Ruby and Yang?" Tai thought aloud, bouncing ideas off Qrow. "They've been at Signal all year."

"Six years ago she ran from Menagerie for the Fang. I occasionally get a plea from the Belladonnas asking if I can find their daughter. I knew she was in Vale, just not where. Getting informants into the Fang is a large hassle, but I do know she trained under Adam Taurus, the head of their operations in Vale. A year ago, some altercation happened and she left the Fang, and I haven't been able to track her since. I have no idea when and where she would've met Ruby and Yang."

"I let a trained assassin into my house because they trusted her." Tai rubbed his face tiredly. "Well, she knew how to charm me. Certainly gained my respect with her skills. You'll also be happy to know the three of them left the house sometime early this morning, rendezvousing with a Schnee and then taking her bullhead towards the mainland."

"Long hair, or short hair?"

"Long, all the way down to her hips, and glowing intensely bright white. I got to see her enter Ruby and Yang's room through a glyph suspended in the air."

"Winter hates wearing her hair down." Tai already knew why he'd be privy to such a tidbit of information. Qrow had moved on past Summer, while his Raven had chosen to cut ties with everyone she knew. Funny how Qrow chased after women named for seasons. "So what is little Weiss Schnee doing in Patch, and why is the heiress to the SDC associating with the princess of Menagerie?"

"All good questions, yet I have no answers to give. Anything Winter can tell you?"

"She's been estranged for the last few years and has rarely had the chance to speak to her sister. I could ask her if she has any idea why she'd be on Patch but I don't dare message her before noon. Last time I did, she gave me a gift." He traced a thin scar on his jawline. It was probably when he first fell for her. "Why didn't you stop them?"

"Yang's going to Beacon next semester. She's an adult and I can trust her with Ruby, and if what you've told me about Blake is true, then she has all the protection she needs. Do you know anything about Weiss?"

"Nothing. Winter speaks of missing her immensely, but she barely interacts with her, even at official functions. She says she stays locked in Castle Schnee and is only ever seen at SDC events with her father."

"Hmm. They left a note saying they'd be back in a few days. You wanna drop by for a visit?" They'd have more opportunities to ask questions if they had two senior Huntsmen there, and Ruby could never resist spending time with Qrow. His information would force answers they might not want out into the open, but Blake was a suspected terrorist.

"I'll bring a bottle of something good." Qrow ended conversation, no doubt already preparing for his trip.

* * *

He got another message a few hours later and his laughter echoed about the house. Zwei joined in his laughter, running circles around him and bouncing off the walls.

It seemed Winter was tagging along.

* * *

AN: Drop a review and follow/favourite. Your feedback keeps me going, and always let me know where my mistakes are and how I can improve.


	8. Drugs

Chapter Eight

* * *

 **Drugs**

* * *

Weiss was close to losing it as her bullhead sped across the small island of Patch. She had done far longer jaunts locked in the metal cockpit of a bullhead, but Bast was whittling her nerves down.

For the first couple of hours, Bast had gone to sleep in the co-pilot's seat, much like the rest of the passengers in the fuselage. It was only for the last hour of their trip, just as they had crossed into the airspace of Patch, where she had woken and started baggering her with questions, the most common one being—

"Where are we going?" Exactly. That one. It was probably the twenty-first time she had asked it and she constantly got the same answer. Explaining why they were taking a slightly roundabout route to Menagerie couldn't be answered with one succinct statement. It'd just open the door for more questions from the hyperactive girl.

Couldn't she be like Blake and sleep somewhat peacefully through the night? She was practically jittering in her seat, playing about with everything she could touch on the console, and staring out the front windshield. She had been forced to lock her side of the console off, a trainee measure, but it was still superbly cute watching the excited Faunus in her skimpy maid outfit.

She cut the engines as they neared the coordinates marked on the map, swiveling the engines backwards and up. The shallow approach angle left her dealing with the horizontal velocity instead of the vertical, a much quieter process.

The wheels skimmed the canopy and landed on the hardened dirt, gouging deep trenches as she floored the engines for the brief moments needed to stop the aircraft. Serenity had forward facing rocket boosters for such maneuvers when vertical landings couldn't be performed, giving it an amazingly short stopping distance.

Bast got a stern order to go sit in the fuselage and free up the co-pilot's seat. She tried to use her pout but her's had nothing on Blake's.

A warm summer breeze ruffled her hair as she opened the bay door as silently as she could, not wanting to wake up her passengers. In the full moon, she could see the dark house across the yard, beckoning her.

There were no threats lingering in the air; no Grimm lurking in the darkness of the forest. Her hand lingered on Myrtenaster, but she didn't draw it, the repetitive click of the firing cylinder soothing her frayed nerves.

She spawned a glyph just below her target window, wincing as she landed on it. The strain from keeping it stable was surprising. She lightly tapped on the glass and waited.

The curtains were pulled back and a familiar silhouette opened the window, staring at her with a noticeable tilt in her head. She was roughly pulled in by her shirt and the glyph she was standing on disappeared, her concentration broken as Yang pressed an impassioned kiss to her lips.

A bedside lamp was flicked on and she took in the forms of Ruby and Blake sitting up in one large bed, the two smaller twins pushed together. There were so many questions she wanted answered, but there were people she had to take care of back in her bullhead.

How quickly can the three of you pack for a trip to Menagerie? She signed out, not knowing if they were the only occupants in the house. Ruby thought on her question and nodded, causing Yang and Blake to spring into action, the former writing out a note and sticking it to the door while the latter threw a bunch of clothing into three packs.

She wasn't sure how Ruby walked through the silent chaos and attached her harness and Crescent Rose to her back and then clip her pack on. Evidently, Ruby hadn't returned to her Beacon era body, carrying over her empty eyes. A set of stylish mirrored glasses prevented their draining effect from activating.

They might not have had go-bags ready, but they were set to leave in record time. Weiss lead the way towards the bullhead and Ruby followed with a dexterity beguiling her blindness. If Ruby noticed the passengers in the fuselage, she chose not to comment and moved to the cockpit.

Blake and Yang crept into the bullhead, silently closing the door when they noticed the slumbering Faunus splayed out on the fuselage. Weiss wondered how all of them managed to sleep through the rough landing. Bast tried to say something but she was cut off by Weiss indicating she was to remain quiet for the time being.

No doubt she wanted to know who her new Faunus friend was.

Ruby was already in the co-pilot's seat, checking the controls for the instruments she could, knowing the console layout by heart. Blake checked the rest of them and throttled the engines, readjusting their position for full vertical thrust.

Something must've caught her eye as she lifted off, as she waved to someone in the darkness.

"I saw Tai watching in the window." Blake's words had her mind performing cartwheels, unable to match the ever silent Faunus to her past voice. It was smooth but quiet all the same, as if she was afraid she could lose it at any moment.

"That'll be a fun conversation for when we get home." Ruby summarized for them. If he had been watching than he hadn't bothered to stop them. "I assume we're going to Menagerie to drop off the Faunus in the back. Couldn't leave them behind when you ran from Atlas."

"Learned a new way to see already?" Ruby nodded, not bothering to reveal her eyes again. "Good luck then. Anything else changes in the transit?"

"I don't have my scars anymore, but I've kept Rei and the gem. Yang and Blake have both returned to their original bodies and regained the use of their arm and voice, respectively."

"Gem?" Ruby pulled her shirt over her head and twisted in her seat, revealing the gem and the cracks coming from it. She wore no breast bindings or bra to obscure the gem and Weiss took to inspecting it, Blake joining her.

The black cracks stretched from the back of her shoulders all the way down to her hips in random patterns, and the gem itself was pitch black. It was the colour of smoke and reflected no light, yet it was impossibly smooth.

Blake took the opportunity to trace one of the cracks all the way from their center up to her shoulders. Her fingertip sank along the deep furrow and they could see the goosebumps travel up Ruby's spine. The skin in the cracks felt no different from other scar tissue, as if a hot poker had drawn and seared them.

They were beautiful yet marring.

"You never had a suicidal phase Ruby." Weiss picked and tapped at the gem, staring at it in curiosity. The sudden appearance of two red eyes in its depth surprised her only slightly, knowing Rei was in there. "Are your eyes and this gem the only changes."

"Yes." Ruby pulled her shirt back on, reclining back into her seat. "Do I get a kiss now?"

"You're not getting any kisses from me for a while. Not until I forgive you for your stunt with Salem."

"Don't make me pull out Rei and have her pout at you."

"She'll get my kisses. You won't." Ruby relented, knowing Weiss would break down eventually. It wasn't hard to forgive Ruby when her intentions were pure. "I did miss you guys. I couldn't bear to stay in Atlas for any longer than I needed to."

"I predicted we'd wouldn't get to see you until Beacon. Nice of you to prove me wrong."

"I had a choice between two more months at Castle Schnee or two more months with my team. It wasn't a hard choice."

"You only showed up because you don't know how to fall asleep alone anymore." Blake attacked her motives, flicking the autopilot on after setting the course for Menagerie.

"I will neither confirm nor deny your accusation." Weiss knew Blake had hit the nail on the head and she couldn't let her win. When in doubt, attack her in her weakest spot. She spun the pilot's seat around and crawled into Blake's lap. Her target smiled infuriatingly and locked her down, not letting her change her mind.

Turnabout was fair play after all.

While Weiss could've kissed Blake to euphoria and back, it wouldn't be fair to Yang. She gave the much better reparation of ear scratches. No matter which timeline or incarnation, Blake became a useless pile of purrs and affection once she gave her trust.

A deep rumble echoed about the cockpit, falling and rising in volume as Weiss' talented fingers found different spots along the ears, starting at the base and then moving across the sensitive. Blake relished the sensation, pressing her head up and closing her eyes.

One particular part of the ear Weiss brushed across interrupted the continuous purr, causing it to break up into staggered beats. She knew she found the elusive spot as Blake's eyes snapped open and her splitted pupils dilated entirely.

Blake's nails tore at the material of her jeans and she gently moved them to her waist, letting them find purchase there and drawing rivulets of blood. They raked up Weiss' body, pushing up her shirt to the border of decency, pressing her closer.

Weiss latched onto Blake's neck, feeling the rapid pulses on the jugular as her heart raced from her tender touch. One of Blake's hands reached to pull Weiss away and properly greet her third teammate, but Weiss wasn't having any of it, pressing butterfly kisses to where the lethal scar had once been.

"You're missing out on quite a show Rubes." Yang leaned on her sister's seat, munching on some popcorn. Ruby couldn't be bothered to wonder where she got the kernels from, knowing she could pop them with her Aura.

"I can see their Auras and hear them just fine." Ruby reached for the popcorn as Blake arched into Weiss, desperate for sexual release. While she couldn't see what Weiss was doing to Blake, she could make an educated guess, as only one spot on her wife's body could provoke such an auditory and visual response.

Blake's Aura pulsed a deep black against her extrasensory vision. She now had a reference point to what hot and bothered looked like, bordering on the verge of an orgasm.

Weiss was suddenly thrown off of Blake and sent flying towards the back of the cockpit. Yang maneuvered to catch her, shoving the bag of popcorn at Ruby. With practiced ease, Yang flipped Weiss from a disorganized heap into bridal style, cradling her from any painful impact.

Blake dashed the pilot's seat and leapt over the middle console, slamming into Ruby and causing the bag of popcorn to spray its contents around the cockpit. Yang had a riot trying to catch the pieces out of the air, once she spit out the random and chaotic strands of Weiss' elongated hair.

Whatever thought processes Ruby had going through her head were interrupted as Blake occupied her lips, attacking with a vengeance. The chair protested under her violent actions as Blake straddled her, sending heat to her own core. Her tongue brushed against Ruby's lips, searching for a partner. Ruby's tongue shot out to join hers and lightly satisfied Blake's growing needs. She didn't mind being pinned or straddled, and certainly didn't mind being used as her sex toy.

Blake reached down to the button of her shorts, undoing it along with the zipper. Ruby put a stop to her undressing by shifting a thigh and pressing it against the Faunus' core. Blake moaned into the kiss, pressing her hips forward, aching for more. Her fingers pressed up along Ruby's developing abs, searching for more elusive pleasure.

The movement didn't abate anything, only encouraging her even more. Her breathing became heavier, the heat inside her building up more and more. She moaned into Ruby's mouth and grounded against the offered leg.

She was close and could feel the pressure building in her lower stomach. It wasn't at all fair to Ruby, but she didn't care at the moment, only concerned with getting herself off. Ruby didn't mind, happy to be of service to Blake.

The pulse of Blake's Aura reached a crescendo and a few more thrusts against Ruby's thigh pushed her over the edge. A pleasing noise erupted from her throat, an unconscious reaction to the orgasm ripping through her body and shooting up her spine, drowning her brain in oxytocin and dopamine. Her toes curled tightly and her muscles spasmed in series, wanting to meld into Ruby.

She collapsed into post-coital bliss, resting her head on Ruby's shoulder. A whimper passed through her lips and she nuzzled into the neck next to her face. Ruby's tender petting extended Blake's place on cloud nine and her heavy breathing calmed down. She corrected the askew sunglasses back onto her nose.

"I love you. I love you so much." Blake managed to whisper just before her eyes shut and she drifted into a nap, no longer able to sustain consciousness. Ruby hummed and let her rest, feeling Blake's core collapse into a tiny ball, overloaded with pleasure.

"That was hot." Yang couldn't help the blush staining her cheeks. Weiss fidgeted in Yang's hold, the show of primal desire and subsequent release leaving her the one hot and bothered.

"You can blame the return of teenage hormones. Try not to ambush me when you lose control of your urges." Delivered in her ever-present monotone, Ruby was the image of composure, replacing Weiss as the cold and unfeeling princess of the team.

"Hey, at least we don't need to use the blindfold with you when we do." Yang took everything with a smile, willing to tease Ruby about her misfortune for eternity.

"Speaking of hormones, do you know if your body currently has its ovaries?" Weiss asked her leader, taking over in her role as the team's physician. She could unofficially tack the MD to the end of her name, along with the PhDs in Physics and Computer Science, and a BS in Political Science. That one would become an MS once she finished her dissertation on the differences and the balance of power between the governments of the Hunters and their city-states.

"It wasn't on the list of immediate changes I noticed upon waking up and isn't anything I can check anytime soon. It's only been three weeks since my last injections." At the age of eighteen, Ruby had been forced into menopause as Salem had cut out Ruby's ovaries, preventing the next generation of Silvereyes.

She had lost a few months while interned but had been immediately started on hormone replacement therapy to balance out the loss of estrogen and progesterone her body needed, but could no longer produce. The estradiol valerate needed to be injected once a month, while the progestin shot (17P) needed to be injected only every three months.

If this had happened before the war, she could've received these from Monty or any other lab under their umbrella. After the Hunters declared their independence, Monty had been forced to switch focus from such luxuries to rationing the materials for more important needs.

The team had been forced to extract, spin, and synthesize the hormones they needed from themselves. If they hadn't, their leader would've been further incapacitated, adding physical toils, such as hot flashes and night flashes, onto her already fragile psyche. It was the mental effects of mood swings and depressions they couldn't risk. Mood swings could break the personality mask and unleash Summer, and the depression could possibly break her resolve and have her commit suicide.

It made for a morbid topic during therapy, but it had to be discussed

"We'll have to keep track of any changes you kept through the second time jump." Weiss had a sneaking suspicion the nature of Ruby's Aura remained the same, keeping its property of crushing killing intent. Ruby nodded, knowing an escape from Dr. Weiss wasn't a feasible option, along with it being healthy for her in the short and long run.

Even underpowered, she could just stick her to a glyph and watch as she struggled to wiggle free. There was a counter to them, but Weiss knew the answer to it, and would trap her target in a dome of glyphs instead. Much more taxing, but exponentially harder to break out.

"Any plans you have brewing in your head to help me pass the mental health assessment?" Missing ovaries aside, her psyche would not go unnoticed by the medics at Beacon. She couldn't ask her medical records to be sealed as she wasn't the High Commander anymore, and she definitely couldn't have Qrow discovering her altered state and asking questions.

Keeping future events close to their chests allowed them a finer degree of control, along with the choice to interfere or not. Some events they were set to interfere in, such as Pyrrha's death, but others weren't significant enough. If they needed Ozpin, only then would they tell him, or risk getting shipped off to an asylum.

"Do you think Ruby as a mask is good enough to fake the answers?" Weiss asked, knowing the chances of Ruby passing the exam while alone were slim.

"For some questions, I have the experience and knowledge gained from interactions with you and from my former role as Commander. Other questions I could maybe improvise, but I've no idea how perceptive or strict their standards are."

"So we're basically screwed as a team. We could always guilt Ozpin into ignoring your assessment. We know all the dirty secrets of his cocoa embezzlement and his failure to protect your ancestors."

"That's not going to stop him in an official capacity, but neither is that's not going to stop us from playing it by the ear. We're all going to go to Beacon on initiation day and we're going to get placed as a team. Whatever happens after that moment is a toss-up I will deal with, not you." Ruby waited for the predicted interruption and protest from Weiss and Yang. "My problems are my own, and while I appreciate the support of my team, having the three of you act in official capacity is better than having none of us. I'll find my own way if I have to."

"I don't like it. We have no guarantee one of us would lead the team after your removal, and we would never accept another leader. We'd rather leave, regardless of your last orders."

"Yang?" Ruby refused to comment on how her sister refused to release Weiss back onto the floor, keeping her in her hold. Weiss was cool as a snowflake, nestled comfortably within the raging inferno's arms.

"Ozpin knows not to separate us. If you fail your physical and mental, then we'll fight to keep you. We have two months Rubles; more than enough time to reduce the impact of your blindness."

"You two are stubborn." Ruby didn't mean it as an insult, simply commenting on the bond shared between them. She already knew Blake's answer, the desperate and tight hold on her shirt and neck portraying her answer. She couldn't have asked for a better team...or family. "I always did like the improvised plans."

A fiendish grin, reminiscent of the last time Summer was let loose, appeared on her face. Summer cowered as Rei yipped playfully in Ruby's mindscape, afraid of the overactive pup.

Weiss smartly chose not to comment on it as Yang moved them to Blake's abandoned seat, settling in for the rest of their flight to Menagerie.

* * *

Bast would've loved to barge into the cockpit at any moment and ask Weiss questions upon questions, but a particular smell coming from the inside halted her in her tracks and had her backpedaling.

She wouldn't dare risk Weiss' wrath, and she definitely didn't want to interrupt what was going on inside the cockpit. She desperately tried not to think about the other Faunus in there, but her hyperactive imagination refused to rest.

Sleep can easy after she fainted from a nosebleed.

* * *

AN: On a completely unrelated and goofy note, my browsing history now includes various research topics stemming from ovaries, hormones, HRT, forced menopause, army mental and physical exams, and fanfiction lemons. Your condolences to NSA/FBI in charge of my computer will no doubt be appreciated. I have a special treat for you next chapter, and as always, leave a review.


	9. Bleed

Chapter Nine

* * *

 **Bleed**

* * *

The buzz of an incoming radio contact woke the occupants of the cockpit as they approached Menagerie, still out above the sea. The radar on the console pinged two bogies behind them, maintaining the same speed. Yang handed off the headset to Blake, after calming Weiss down, and she managed to catch the transmission.

 _Unidentified aircraft, Falcon 56MN, State intentions._

Not even above the mainland yet and they'd been intercepted. Standard protocol when an Atlesian Bullhead registered to the SDC flies anywhere close to the island. It didn't help they hadn't filed a flight plan either.

 _Falcon 56MN, Bullhead 104AP, bearing 115, requests escort to Menagerie, diplomatic access of Blake Belladonna._

There was a short silence as the fighter pilots desperately tried to figure out how to handle her request.

 _4AP, 6MN, say again._

 _6MN, 4AP, Blake Belladonna requests fighter escort to Menagerie. Confirm._

Another short silence. Only those from Menagerie knew she was missing and anyone stupid enough to impersonate her would be arrested once the craft landed.

 _Escort granted, 4AP. Fly heading 115. Maintain altitude. Contact Menagerie Approach at 118.2. Welcome home._

 _Going to approach, 104AP._ Blake switched the radio frequency and saw the jets pull back on the radar, but still maintain a healthy distance. _Menagerie Approach, Bullhead 104AP at 1000, 2-0 kilometers northwest, landing with clearance Delta._

She wasn't screwing around. She didn't want to wait behind other air traffic and so attached the Delta code, meaning she identified the craft as diplomatic. If she was registered as a Hunter, it'd be Hotel instead.

 _Bullhead 104AP, Menagerie Approach, Squawk 1200 and ident._

 _Squawking 1200, 104AP._ Blake depressed the transponder button, making their radar blip blossom on the approach screen. There were several other blips on the cockpit radar, but Blake hadn't been told to search for any; given priority.

 _Bullhead 104AP, cleared for landing pad 1. Contact Menagerie Tower._

 _Changing to tower frequency, 104AP_. They were rapidly closing in on the airfield without yet hailing the tower properly, a sin most pilots would be reprimanded for. Wasn't their fault they had scrambled their jets too late to intercept them properly. _Menagerie Tower, Bullhead 104AP on final for landing pad 1._

 _104AP, Menagerie Tower, cleared to land on pad 1._

 _Cleared to land, 104AP._

It was good being a princess. Screw waiting in traffic and screw going through the commercial radio faff others needed to. Then again, she wasn't piloting a horizontal landing craft needing a runway and could be funneled to the less used landing pads placed specifically away from the two runways. Simple and to the point with directions and instructions.

She could already make out the entourage of police lights. Such a shame the Faunus in the fuselage were in for a rude wake-up call. The rapid descent was already ringing bells in the ATC, but what she did next would have her license revoked...if she had one.

Rather than slowly rotate the engines to vertical and come in to a gentle landing, she only slightly depressed them and threw the rudder to the right, harshly swinging the craft into a tailspin.

Ruby didn't get any warning other than a sinking feeling in her stomach, not being able to see the smirk on Blake's face. The centripetal force kept her and her teammates anchored as Blake scared the denizens of Menagerie's police force. She gunned the engines past their operational limits to prevent them from crashing into a giant fireball of Dust, slamming the rudder the other way to counter their spin.

It resulted in them pulling up just shy of ten metres from the ground, and as much as she wanted to test the suspension on the craft, she opted for setting it down softly. She waved at the officers standing in front of the cockpit, satisfied at their dumbstruck expressions.

There was a few more radio chatter directed her way, but she tuned it out, turning off the transponder. Someone else could deal with taxiing the craft; she was going to enjoy being home. She dragged Ruby out behind her, gesturing for Yang and Weiss to remain in the cockpit while she dealt with their arrival.

It was almost stupid how much leeway Hunters got when traveling between city-states. It was akin to the diplomatic immunity Council members received, minus the ability to perform massive amounts of property damage without answering for it.

They carefully stepped over their passengers and threw open the side door, the morning light filtering into the fuselage. Several people stood at attention, ready to receive their princess. At least there wasn't a red carpet.

Ruby trailed behind Blake as she made her way past a number of sycophants welcoming her home to the customs officer. She had nothing to identify her other than her outdated childhood identification with a 7-year old picture. The agent had a sense of humor as he tried to compare the picture of little Blake to the woman standing in front of him, glancing comically between the two.

"Welcome home, Miss Belladonna." There wasn't really much to check against her and he couldn't mark the document, so he handed it back. She could get away with it because of who she was, but Ruby and the two others couldn't. Weiss had long ago beat the book of international law into her brain, quite literally. Ruby's scroll was already tabbed to the three passports, having pulled Weiss' while back on Patch.

Yang's and her own document received nothing more than quick approval, only expedited by Blake's presence. If they were Hunters at Beacon, this could've all been done while in flight, but as they weren't, and the bullhead didn't have the proper identification, they couldn't.

The problem with Weiss' passport was it was registered with Atlas, and she didn't have the weight of Signal behind it as she'd been privately tutored in Castle Schnee. She was, effectively, an undesirable with the worst last name possible. The agent tried hard not to choke on his spit as Weiss' face and name popped up on the third document.

"Is there a problem?" Cue the creepy smile and tilt of the head. He was having trouble keeping eye contact with those roiling vats of gold.

"No member of the Schnee family is allowed into Menagerie."

"Then you can inform your chieftain and his queen their daughter arrived at Menagerie this morning and voluntarily left because you refused to allow her friend access to her home." It was far from an empty threat. The information she had arrived at the airfield would've already spread to them and they'd be waiting for her. "There are nine Faunus from Atlas also on the bullhead applying for refugee status. I'm sure they'll be expeditely processed once I leave."

Ruby played along with the script perfectly, taking back her scroll and following Blake back to the ship. It still took him a few precious seconds to realize his princess was stepping back into the craft she arrived in. He was running before his own legs knew it.

"I'm sure we can work something out. There's no need to leave. How long will she be staying?"

"At most, a week. She'll be staying as my personal guest and as a future Hunter of Beacon. I suggest you approve her visit, or I leave and I won't return for at least a year."

Her father must've been a greater threat to him than the courts as he submitted her passport faster than the first two. She could almost hear the alarms going off as the system flagged Weiss' entrance into the country, bemoaning the civilian struggles of moving between states.

He didn't look happy having to do it, but Blake was part of the royals, and any guest of hers was transitively a guest of the family. The importance of such boon being given to a Schnee didn't go unnoticed to him, and neither would it go unnoticed by the people.

It'd be his ass on the line, but Blake's signature and approval went a long way. He tried not to think about his job and settled for helping the Faunus get adjusted to Mengerie. Nine people needed to be registered, given identification, and new lives among them. He didn't notice Blake and her friend disappear into the cockpit.

"I had to threaten customs into letting you enter." She swung both Shroud and Myrtenaster onto her back, sandwiching them between her pack. Weiss knew better than to protest her weapon being taken away and shouldered her own pack.

"Not surprising. Shame those fighters caught us." Quiet and unnoticed was a good habit during their war, but not for everyday. Instincts almost had her spawning glyphs into front of those jets to have them crash, and it was only Yang's quick thinking which prevented an international incident.

Somewhere in a bar in Vale, Qrow sneezed. He was going to have to smack someone. The drunk next to him seemed like a good target...at the time.

In her room at Hearth Academy, Winter sneezed. Qrow was going to get smacked the next time she saw him.

"I'm good to go. Lemme just say goodbye to Bast and we can go." The moment she opened the door, the aforementioned maid jumped her, wrapping her in a tight hug while thanking her profusely. Yang stood behind her twirling a crowbar, ready to pry the two apart.

"Will I ever see you again?" Bast finally asked as she let go of her former mistress.

"I'll come visit whenever I have time, and am allowed to." She got more rounds of thanks from her passengers as she made her way out of the craft. "Oh, right, before I go, you're in charge of the Dust in the back. 80% is to be sold and the proceeds split among you and your co-workers. Consider it a severance package. And do not take any of the Gravity Dust, for your own safety."

Ruby's Semblance stretched taut across the team and they rocketed out of the bullhead before Bast could assault Weiss with more hugs. It wasn't until they were out of sight the sheer amount of Dust within the compartment was counted, and even among nine people, it was still a considerable sum of money.

* * *

Whether it was a lack of control or a lack of Aura, Team RWBY moved across Menagerie's suburbs at a slower pace than usual. Ruby set the pace for them, her forward shells stretched as far as they could while ears listened to every sound around. At the speed set, she conserved Aura by not having to bring up the wind buffer, further conserving her reduced reserves.

"You're adapting well." Yang commented as they bound off a house and soared across the street to the next one.

"You have no idea how much struggle it is to make sure I don't accidentally short out." They moved across the terrain quickly enough to where Ruby had to funnel Aura into her brain, her unadulterated state unable to process the changing landscape. With her auxiliary shells focused on the front, she could only perceive the changes in a narrow cone, but for a much longer distance, but add in a run and it became exponentially more difficult.

"I could always carry you." Yang rhetorically offered, knowing the answer her stubborn leader would reply with. It was an insult to the High Commander to be a liability to her team, once chosen as Ozpin's successor to lead the fighting force of Vale's Hunters. Ruby grunted, expressing her acknowledgement, but continued moving forward, displaying her agility by vaulting over the precipice of the next roof.

Her performance would've been flawless if not for the atrocious landing, her foot landing on a small rock and forcing her ankle into an awkward position, twisting it. She collapsed faster than Weiss onto the newest _Icha Icha_ , the surprise overriding her sense to save the fall. Her team stared down at their leader, her limbs splayed out and eyes gazing blankly into the sky.

"Well, it's only been a day. You've adapted better than most." Yang pulled Ruby to her feet.

"'Better' won't cut if for my fight with Roman in two weeks, and my failure to perform means Ozpin won't extend an invitation." Ruby rolled her ankle, working off the sore joint, and re-extended the shells to their preset ranges, the outermost registering the front of Blake's childhood home.

She got a flick from her wife, reminding her she didn't have an invitation either, but was hedging her bets on the entrance exam, much like Jaune did with his forged transcript. But, at seventeen, both of them were adults and could voluntarily choose to take it, while Ruby couldn't without Tai's approval, which superseded her own, but didn't supersede Ozpin's.

If only she was two years older.

According to Weiss, thinking about facts she couldn't change wasn't healthy for her damaged psyche, so she shoved them to Rei, the ravenous puppy always willing to eat somber thoughts. She was docile enough while feasting, ignoring the entity she was meant to guard.

Summer hated the tiny Grimm, but every time she killed it, it reformed and chased her around the mindscape, those suddenly and incredibly sharp fangs and claws tearing at her essence. The increasingly violent methods she employed against it only seemed to encourage it more, treating it like a game. It made for grand entertainment, her hate driving her boredom away until Ruby had use for her.

While Ruby munched on imaginary popcorn and watched as Summer went through a midlife crisis about her relationships with her prison and cellmate, Blake had taken point and lead them to the front door. She had nothing to be afraid of, having already gone through the same process twice. Contrary to the other Blake, she knocked hard and loud, announcing her presence. They were expecting her after all; no need to hide.

They could hear the thunder of footsteps from inside as Blake's parents ran for the door, tripping over themselves to open the door first. The hinges of one of the double doors creaked as Kali tripped Ghira into it, stepping around him to open up the other one. She continued to grin smugly at her victory as she ran at Blake and squeezed the life out of her.

Blake could only reinforce her shields and ride out the storm of affection.

The rest of the team stepped aside as Ghira rushed at the pair and bowled them over, picking up the two and spinning them about. Blake instinctively felt out Yang's Aura, hoping to reach across the feeble link to draw upon its self-strengthening properties.

Yang wasn't having any of it, blocking off Blake's connection and leaving her to suffer her parent's tender mercies. She was too busy recording the moment to bother opening the channel in the first place. Someday the blackmail would come in handy...probably.

"I'd appreciate if you didn't suffocate my wi-friend." Ruby could feel the collective Auras of the Belladonna family with Blake's flickering on the inside as it struggled to maintain the shield. She had to mentally readjust to Blake being her friend; it was easier switching names than shifting her personal relationship.

The patriarch startled out of his hug, snapping his head to stare at the girl standing off to the side along with two others. The one who spoke, the shortest of the group with dark crimson hair, a pair of mirrored lenses, and a large weapon across her back, gave the impression she wasn't staring directly at him. The one standing to her left was taller than the all of them including his wife, bar him, and was recording them while chuckling, dressed in fitted riding slacks with bright blonde hair tucked into a dark hoodie. The one to the her right brought him up short, his hands clenching at the presence of one of them. White hair and ice eyes contrasted against his own black hair and golden eyes.

Weiss subtly shifted behind Ruby, not wanting to challenge Ghira in his home. It was her way of showing respect and apologizing for her family's actions. She had no say in conversations between leaders, even the deposed one her own was. Ruby spoke for her while on Menagerie until she gained a measure of trust.

Ghira let the two in his hold go, fixing his rumpled clothes and melded into his kingly persona, his demeanor and stance switching. His shoulders became more square, his feet spread out evenly, his face settled into indifference, and his eyes lost the familial gleam. All facts Ruby took notice of, yet she refused to do the same.

He wasn't a threat to her, nor her team.

Not yet, at least.

"Blake, who are your friends?" Kali took notice of the three standing a short distance. She only recognised one of them. Weiss stared back, still partially hidden behind Ruby.

It was amusing to see the smallest member of Team RWBY stepping up to the large panther Faunus to shake his hand. Déjà vu anyone?

"I'm Ruby Rose, Hunter-in-training at Signal." Ghira shook her hand. "This is my sister, Yang, future Hunter at Beacon, and to my other side is Weiss Schnee, who'll also join my sister at Beacon when the semester starts."

The confirmation Weiss was a Schnee didn't surprise him. It was how the other two stood behind the redhead which got his attention. She was younger than the both of them for sure, only reaching Signal while they were going to Beacon, but they let her speak for them.

"I assume my daughter vouched for her to even be allowed anywhere close to my island." Ghira spotted the second weapon strapped to Blake's back, the gleaming silver quite different to the dark colours she was wrapped in. "I am Ghira Belladonna, chieftain of Menagerie." He still shook everyone's hand, squeezing a little too harshly when he reached Weiss. She didn't give him his victory, squeezing right back.

"We were nearly shot out of the sky." Weiss could speak now, having passed his meager trial with him having initiated formalities. "Blake's name still carries weight after five years."

Ghira and Kali's smiles became strained, piecing together why Weiss would be privy to the exact time Blake left Menagerie for the Fang. The girl had somehow become friends with his daughter when both of them had been on opposite spectrums of a feud stretching back to the establishment of Menagerie, when the Fang actively pursued the deaths of the Schnees.

"How did a Schnee become friends with a Faunus?" His eyes narrowed in suspicion, mind flying through hundreds of reasons why and how the two of them could have met when Blake could've still been in the Fang.

"You mistake me for the racist I call a father." Weiss couldn't resist the dig against both of them, first calling him out for his assumption and then directly insulting Jacques. Her words also brushed aside the question, giving them more leeway with their history. "And we're not friends . She's my girlfriend."

Ruby heard Yang physically choke back her laughter and the screen of her scroll crack as she struggled to maintain some semblance of control. Ghira's Aura actually stopped pulsing with life, dropping into a dull glow deep within his core. Being blind actually came with an advantage it seemed. She took the chance to poke the remarkably likelike statue of Menagerie's chieftain, walking about and prodding the flesh facsimile.

This was an amazing chance to completely rewrite Remnant's future. Ruby thoughts raced, aided by her Semblance, developing a devious plan to avoid the destruction and collapse of the four city-states into turmoil and war. Summer and Rei greatly enjoyed the political machinations of the plans, the Grimm more so enjoying the sheer cunning.

Her team definitely did not like the grin on her face, and Weiss preemptively spawned glyphs under Ruby's feet, ready to anchor her in place.

"I think you broke him." Kali noted. Ghira wasn't reacting to anything, continuing to act like a statue. It wasn't until Ruby briefly unleashed a part of her Aura to get him to move, the pressure behind it finally causing the fight or flight instinct to awaken. Ghira zeroed in on the origin of the Aura, the redhead whose peers gave deference to.

It wasn't the amount released, but the feeling of oncoming dread.

He shook away the nagging thought of taking his family and running from this girl. She had been nothing but polite.

"She doesn't bite, Dad." Blake stepped to Weiss' side and wrapped her in a side hug, moving the conversation. "I was hoping this wouldn't be an awkward homecoming." The last part was stressed directly at Weiss, the cause of the problem.

"I'm sure she's wonderful." Bless Kali for speaking up. "Do come in. I can make a quick snack while you four make yourselves comfortable in the living room."

Kali pulled her husband inside the house and then the kitchen, his unconscious motor functions working just enough to remain upright and moving. Blake took point and lead her team to the living room, Ruby sticking close to Yang. They spread out along the sectional, Weiss sitting between Blake and Yang with Ruby next to her.

"I wonder if at some point we'll be punished by some divine being for fucking with people." Ruby leaned into Yang, subconsciously latching onto the juggernaut to partially replenish her Aura. It was good training for the blonde to synthesize Aura with someone simultaneously leeching it.

"Remind me to kick Neo's ass the next time I see her." Divine being or not, Weiss knew Neo had at least partially intervened to get them sent back a second time; it was in her nature to spread chaos about. "But I did not like your creepy smile outside."

"It's your fault. You gave me an idea." Weiss stopped short. "You'll keep up your lie to the Belladonnas about being Blake's girlfriend, at least officially, and when we get to Beacon, and both of you become citizens, you'll marry, making you a Belladonna, and Blake a Schnee." Ruby unlatched Crescent and placed it at her feet, the large weapon too cumbersome to relax into. "Now imagine when the Vytal Festival comes around, when the four major kingdoms are watching their Hunters compete, and our team comes up on the scoreboard." The grin reappeared at the thought of the moment. "When the world learns the princess of Menagerie has put aside her differences with the Schnee heiress, and married her. The White Fang loses credibility."

The team ran through the possibilities of her plan, narrowing them down to two or three most probable outcomes. The Schnees would be left with only two choices, bring back Winter as their primary heir and disown Weiss, or be forced to accept Weiss' choices. It left the SDC in the hands of a Faunus sympathizer, and they could use the company's considerable resources to reverse the damage done to Faunus rights under Jacques' reign.

The White Fang would be crippled, losing the reasoning behind their turn to violence as the money and influence once used to oppose them suddenly sided with their objectives. They'd lose any support they had within Menagerie and the general Faunus population, assuming the company succession happened without a hitch.

"Your time frame is too long. Jacques doesn't have to step down from leading the company, and it could be twenty or more years until he bites the dust. The Fang's looking for immediate change. Me marrying Blake could accomplish nothing, or could come with consequences. She could lose her status as princess or could it could enrage the Fang that a Schnee had ensnared their princess."

"That's why you're the tactician and I'm the strategist." Ruby furiously deleted the idea from the fanfiction section on her scroll. As she couldn't see anything, she only mimicked the motion. "It was an optimistic plan."

"Short of killing him, there isn't a way of me or Winter gaining control." She knew extortion wouldn't work against her father's shrewd mind. He would destroy the company before he'd have its resources used to further the Faunus cause. It lead them back to the same idea they had employed in the second timeline: removing their labour force.

Which they couldn't do because Ruby wasn't the High Commander anymore and had no basis to getting it back. She'd be quickly voted out of office due to her age and lack of experience which would destroy Ozpin's reputation as well.

What they didn't have to factor in anymore was the existence of one Whitley Schnee. The SDC was stuck with Weiss as the next owner unless Winter was brought back.

Weiss knew the intent hidden behind those mirrored sunglasses. Blake would get the order within a few months, and then she'd be given the chance to veto it. Of course, Ruby would give her the chance to do veto the planning long before Blake set out, but she would still have to make the choice to confirm the assassination.

It was the terrible reality Ruby and Weiss had to live in, the former as a High Commander and the latter as her second. If Weiss or Ruby couldn't plan out another way to mitigate the continued damage the SDC wrecked on the status of Faunus, then Jacques would die.

While Weiss dealt with her family, Blake had to begin stretching her intelligence net around Vale, a process which took her personal time and most of the team's budget. Weiss would happily help fund the venture through her trust fund, knowing the value of correct information.

It was the fine line between wiping out a Grimm nest and walking out unharmed versus limping out with an injured or dead teammate.

Blake held no illusions certain members of the Fang were beyond redemption, and most of the White Fang's command was on her list, including her former mentor, Adam Taurus. He was beyond redeemable, and too set in his beliefs.

Sienna Khan was a much more reasonable leader and had command over the broader structure of the Fang's branches in the other three city-states with the majority focused in Vacuo, the most malleable, corrupt, and liberal country. It would be both Yang and Blake's job to reach out and establish a link between her and Menagerie.

These were only the most important objectives on their list, not including their main base in Mt. Glenn, or the countless safehouses RWBY onced maintained around Vale. This was all, of course, piled onto a list including the defense of Vale from Grimm, but against those two threats, they paled in comparison. The war could be avoided if they succeeded.

They had avoided establishing Weiss' dominant hold onto the SDC before the Fang ran then out of Beacon, leaving the company to continue their machinations against the Faunus. The war had only exacerbated it.

Weiss hated what her team had become. Where once they had been a band of green Hunters, they were now something... different. Her leader was a tortured psychopath willing to defend her people against the world, her wife was a legend responsible for more assassinations than a twenty-two year old should've been, and her own wife was a walking ball of nuclear fission.

And herself?

A former heiress to the largest company on the planet, a genius behind their initial time jump and Serenity, a monster behind the destruction of Vacuo, and a daughter contemplating patricide.

Where had their silver-eyed bubbly leader gone?

Their reclusive and pacifist Faunus?

Their kind and optimistic juggernaut?

All burned, much like Ruby's red cloak.

"I'll set it up." Ruby did have a point, but if anyone was going to kill the bastard almost single handedly responsible for the Second Great War, it'd be his own child. She looked around to see if Blake or Yang would protest, but neither did. Blake understood the need for it and would gladly do the job if it meant sparing Weiss from having to do it, and Yang had spoke against such idea in the second timeline only because they had found an alternative.

Ruby, and Summer, completely agreed with Salem and Neo's sentiments about humanity. The midget maniac used them for her entertainment because frankly, they rather were, while the goddess believed them to be self-destructive. However, they both believed humanity could evolve, become better.

Did they have a right to interfere where Hunters shouldn't? They were meant to defend against Grimm first and foremost, not chase terrorists across the continents.

Could they justify Jacques' death? Where his death could save billions of lives, where the policies of one company decided the fate of millions of Faunus.

Could they, as Hunters, justify actions meant to block the creation of Primordials, an action meant to protect humanity from greater harm. If they could, it meant a slippery slope between actions strictly related to them, such as going out and hunting, to all possible actions

Could they also condemn the Faunus within the White Fang, who wanted nothing more than equality?

To let Remnant walk within the light, they knew they couldn't.

Their dark musings were interrupted by the reappearance of their hosts, Ghira still looking out of it. Kali could mimic her daughter's creepy smile perfectly, making it probably the only reason why he hadn't sank into cardiac arrest at the mention of his daughter's relationship with a Schnee.

She placed a tray of tea and cookies onto the coffee table and Ruby only needed her nose to identify them as chocolate chip. Blake slapped her hand away on instinct.

"Blake! She's our guest. She can have all the cookies she wants." Kali reprimanded and Ruby thought she should've married her for those magical words.

"You don't know her like I do. The moment you look away, all of those cookies will be gone." She didn't dare look away, watching for the slightest sign Ruby would activate her Semblance to steal them.

Ruby was too versed in these games, knowing her Semblance could outpace Blake's reaction. Screw composure; she wasn't Beacon's commander anymore.

"One cookie won't hurt." Blake sighed, feeling the disturbance of air flow across her skin. They both turned to look down at the tray of cookies, only to find a few measly crumbs. The culprit daintily licked chocolate off her fingers, smugness radiating from her Aura.

"You see what I mean." Blake sat back, having lost the fight with her. At least there weren't any more cookies in the near vicinity for Ruby to consume and pass into a coma.

It meant Summer...or worse.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone eat twenty cookies before I could blink." Ghira snapped out of his stupor in time to see the marvelous feat.

"One of my many talents."

"You've made weird friends Blake." Ghira's bluntness was alway appreciated. No mincing words, or hidden agendas.

"Weird to you, not to me." Kali and Ghira couldn't help but notice how the four of them gravitated to one another, even when split up into two pairs. Weiss may have been leaning into Blake, but one of her legs always maintained contact with Yang, who kept a hand idly resting on it.

"You four seem awfully close." They couldn't help but notice how the three of them all briefly looked to the redhead for guidance, but the eyes behind her shades revealed nothing. They missed the small movement of her hand. Most would dismiss it as a fidget, but Ruby's team knew their leader too well to know it wasn't unintentional.

"We were there for Blake when she left the Fang, and we've been stuck together ever since." It was Ruby's responsibility to shape their history on the fly. No one had Blake's information since she dropped from the grid, and Qrow couldn't keep track of Weiss'.

"She told you of her past then." They looked for the slightest sign of disgust or judgement among the other three, but they didn't so much as look in Blake's direction.

"Should we judge her on her past or should we judge her on her decision to leave? Ruby again spoke for the team. "Just as we refuse to judge Weiss' past connection to her family."

"You speak for all three of your friends, and they let you. Why?" These mistakes were starting to catch up to them. Old habits were revealing more than they wanted simply because they were trapped in their younger forms. "They look to you for answers."

Ruby continued to betray nothing in her expression, but her team's Aura started to fluctuate, moving from calm to concerned.

"They trust me as their future team leader when we get to Beacon. My decisions will affect them. It's rare when four people enter Beacon together, giving us a distinct advantage among other first year teams who must first establish trust and cooperation."

"But why?" Kali looked at her, then the team, puzzled. "You're by far the youngest and most likely least experienced among them. Your sister has graduated Signal while you have not, and Blake was a member of the Fang for years. I can't guess Miss Schnee's past, but if she's going to Beacon, she's at least seventeen."

"What makes a leader, Chieftain Ghira Belladonna? You've reigned as Mengarie's ruler for five years ever since your ousting as the High Leader of the White Fang." She posed the question, crossing her legs into a figure four, her body language displaying dominance and competitiveness. They didn't look too surprised she knew this piece of information with the apparent trust Blake displayed with Ruby. "Is it your former power as the leader of Faunus rights, your compassion for your people, or your tenacity for dealing with the four major states?"

"I was chosen for my policies as the former leader of the Fang. My people didn't agree with their move to violence, and I was the rather obvious choice to lead the country looking to expand peacefully." These were not only the traits Ghira believed himself to have, but the traits his people believed he had. "So why does my daughter follow you?"

Ruby raised the cup of tea she had drawn earlier, the soothing aroma invading her nostrils.

"I scratch her ears sometimes." It was calculated statement to get the best reaction out of them. She delivered it with such an innocence, adding in a head tilt, and a cute list to her voice.

As predicted, her comment startled the older pair sitting in front of her. Faunus didn't let just anyone touch their ears, but Weiss had already said before she was Blake's girlfriend. It implied a far greater trust than they initially believed.

"She's the glue binding the four of us together. When the four of us met, Blake had her ears hidden with a bow, and she hated me for my family. Ruby threw us into a room, attacked us with her caring personality and curb stomped our prejudices away." Weiss spoke this time, and the Belladonnas chalked her up as the team's second, also noting Blake and Yang had yet to speak. They were treating this like an interrogation, and until their leader gave the go ahead, it'd continue to be one and not a reunion. "I learned my family, save my sister, is full of racists and decided I wanted to attend Beacon with them instead of moving to Hearth."

Her answer was less than satisfactory, but pushing for answers wasn't going to get anything from the deceptive second or her leader. They were both experienced in dodging and misdirecting questions, answering only in riddles or only providing partial and vague

"Then I wish you all the luck when the four of you get to Beacon. I can send a recommendation to your Headmaster for your placement together if he sees fit." Ruby nodded to his kind gesture, filing it away under his trait of altruism, a trait she lacked as Ruby but a trait Summer nearly extolled. "Now, tell me how you two ended up together." He pointed to the the snuggling pair of Weiss and Blake.

"Well, technically, I'm not. I just said that to screw with you." Weiss kissed Blake on her cheek and settled back into her side. She used her foot to point across the couch. "Officially, I'm with the blonde over there, but it won't stop us from sharing."

The Belladonnas looked between the four of them in incredulity, waiting for them to spring the joke on them. "You're screwing with us again, aren't you?"

"Unequivocally so." They weren't quite ready for that revelation quite yet, noticing Ruby's concise hand signals hidden in her lap.

"I like you." Weiss' face broke out into a beaming smile, flashing her bright teeth. She had established a good reputation and Ghira was willing to overlook her family name to get to know her. "How long will the four of you be staying?"

They knew they couldn't tie Blake down to her home, especially if she was dead set on going to Beacon once the summer ended.

"For a few days, if we may ask for accommodations." Kali and him nodded. The mansion was big enough to house them all without trouble. It was, frankly, a house too large for the two of them. "Yang and I will go out and see the city if you don't mind."

Ruby was only halfway to standing when Weiss interrupted her.

"Stop. What's rule number one with civilians from Menagerie?" Weiss asked, patiently waiting for an answer. Ruby's eyebrows furrowed, genuinely having to think on it.

"That they aren't as durable as my Hunters?" Weiss tutted, then rolled her finger in a 'keep going' gesture. "That killing civilians is bad… and a crime."

"That's the one." Weiss applauded, happy she had passed her test. "Now you can go. Just make sure to stick to Yang."

The Belladonnas couldn't keep the shivers from running up their spines at the casual mention of the team having to reinforce such a basic idea in Ruby. They almost missed the possessive pronoun she used when addressing the Hunters.

* * *

 **AN** : To those who still stay with my after my hiatus, thanks. I'm getting close to finals and my creativity has been stymied. Chapters will slow down and you might notice a drop in detail or a few mistakes here and there. I moved the special treat I promised you for the next chapter, wanting to make it Chapter Ten and not nine, so I lied. Sue me. I'll try and work on it, but finals week is next week so don't hold your hopes up for a quick upload. I wan't to make sure all the plot holes and details are final and ironed out.


	10. Nevermore

Chapter Ten

* * *

 **\- Memories -**

 **Qrow the Raven, Nevermore**

* * *

 _Mountain Glenn - Year 84 AGW_

"Ruby, let go." Qrow tried to dislodge the red Huntress from his back, the presence of his sword-scythe, Harbinger, not impeding her progress. Her cloak swung around in circles as attempt after attempt failed to throw his clinging niece/daughter off. She treated it like a game, locking her arms and legs around him, giggling madly. "Can't you be serious for one minute?"

"But what's the fun in that?" Ruby climbed over onto his shoulders and peered at him upside-down, hair standing at attention and silver eyes glittering with amusement. Qrow winced as Ruby's leg brushed over a series of burns across his chest, a reminder from the last time he tangled with the new Queen of Vale.

Cinder ruled viciously, denouncing the established Hunters as opposition and enemies of the state, replacing them with the larger and more well equipped White Fang. She had gained the loyalty of every Faunus on Remnant for finally passing the addendum to the Faunus Equal Rights Bill and gained an even larger power base.

If she was slightly nicer, and predisposed to the Hunters in any way, then having her as a monarch wouldn't be a problem. After all, Ozpin had ruled as a monarch long before the establishment of Vale and hadn't royally fucked up enough to destroy his civilization; the very same one Cinder was in process of dismantling.

The people were terrified of their new ruler, and as every Hunter knew and understood, fear only increased the manifestation rate of Grimm. Outer districts became impossible to patrol and clear as the hordes of Grimm descended on them, yet the Hunters refused to abandoned the people trapped in them.

It became a nightmare on two fronts as they had to repel the growing armada of Grimm from the outside along with pushing Vale's own military back into the core districts. The Second Great War hadn't seen much fighting after the Hunters locked the borders down, but it was only because of the few Hunters able to stand against the crushing forces pinching them.

Their last major engagement had been six months ago, when Cinder had first risen to power, bribing the Council with stolen Lien and Dust to slowly repeal the democratic laws preventing authoritarian rule.

There weren't any firestorms, rising of the dead, or other apocalyptic events to mark the change. The Council simply slipped from controlling Vale to monitoring it at Cinder's behest. The next day, the people of Vale woke up to her as their Queen and couldn't do anything about it.

Which escalated the war between the four city-states to new heights. Atlas was already incensed about the incident two years prior involving their droids and Beacon, so learning _she_ sat on the throne had them practically foaming. Mistral denounced the Kingdom of Vale as illegitimate, pissed the values of democracy had been infringed upon. Vacuo, however, took the change well, as being the weakest of the four, couldn't complain about their alliance with Vale.

Cinder, of course, didn't care which stones she kicked over, still acting on orders from her mysterious benefactor. Her own ambitions extended, turning Vale into an authoritarian military state.

Remember that Maiden/Relic thing and the small tidbit mentioned about needing an army to take them? Guess who gained everything she needed with a few years of planning?

No points for you if you guessed Cinder.

She was Salem's toy in her scheme to screw over Ozpin and finally win their little game, proving once and for all she didn't need to directly interfere for humanity to drive itself to the brink of extinction.

The only benefit of the war was the sheer disorder it offered. Qrow's Hunters could effectively and almost permanently block any and all land routes out of Vale, and Atlas' overbearing naval armada would blockade any sea routes. Air routes were ineffective in moving mass amounts of troops, waiting to be shot down by Atlesian battleships.

Cinder was trapped within Vale with no way of getting the other three Maidens, and Salem didn't care for her struggle, satisfied the Relic of Choice had been buried under Beacon's ruins.

While Cinder was immobile, the White Fang wasn't. With branches spread across the four city-states, they could comb across the city and countryside to find the other three Maidens and bring them to her.

It left their new Queen vulnerable.

Mountain Glenn was a nightmare of information as squads deployed out of the hidden launch pads and flew out towards the Capital Districts. The less experienced or less powerful Hunter teams were sent out to the borders, ready to distract any Grimm or any forces retreating back into the core.

The strongest Hunters were being deployed into District One. Commander Qrow was leading a platoon of his forty best Hunters against Cinder in an effort to remove her from her rule.

Somewhere along the lines, the laws had blurred and now they were removing one dictator and establishing another.

* * *

Neo sneezed, wondering who exactly was thinking about her while she was thinking about the many operations she had once taken in Latin America to assassinate right-wing dictators and establish left-wing dictators sympathetic to the United State's cause and interests.

* * *

At least under Qrow, the Hunters would no longer be hunted.

An irony in itself.

Yet what separated Cinder from Qrow?

The Hunters were biased towards their Commander and despised Cinder for obvious reasons. The Faunus population adored their new Queen, willing to defend their monarch for giving them their long denied rights.

The people of Vale were apathetic to their government. Nothing had changed since Cinder's appointment. It relieved their burden of having to choose their elected Council member, and they'd remain complacent to her rule as long as the status quo didn't change too abruptly. Enough people didn't care about the rights of the Faunus, whether in a positive or negative light.

It was a near perfect rule, if it wasn't for her vendetta against the Maidens and her campaign to help her country get its revenge against Atlas for its slight against them. The Hunters of the four countries were the only factions fighting against the terrible implications of Cinder gaining access to the power of four Maidens.

Not the mention, Salem with her two Relics.

It was dumb, blind luck Cinder hadn't yet learned about the Maiden's connections to the Relics and the possible infinite power hidden under the destroyed Academy.

Qrow's Hunters monitored the ruins of Beacon from time to time, but other than the creation of a nest, there was no evidence Cinder was using the Grimm to dig into the collapsed Vault to retrieve the Relic.

Future Ruby would've been pleased with the lack of attention Salem was showing to the Relic. It wasn't her Relic to take, and she'd be beyond satisfied her brother was AWOL. Choice wasn't hers, and as long as no one knew it was there, or didn't have the means to access it, it was better than having it in her own hands.

Knowledge remained locked up under Haven, Creation under Alsius, and Destruction under Shade. With Mistral as Vale's ally, Salem had almost direct access to Destruction. To her own her benefit, she didn't want Creation, the Relic locked under the largest and most militant state.

Mistral, however, was the least militant city-state, preferring to live their lives in peace and in search of harmony.

It did not mean Salem could have Cinder roll across the Anima-Sanus Strait and siege the Academy. The Atlesian Fleet remained her largest obstacle, and with Qrow's Hunters positioned strategically at Mountain Glenn, and fortified, Cinder couldn't move her armies, locked between two immovable forces and obstacles.

"There's no fun in that, but we have a mission we need to get to." Qrow grabbed Ruby by her waist and threw her off, aiming for the ceiling of the underground cavern their base was built into. The red blur flew through the air with a loud squeal of joy, bouncing off a large stalactite, and streaking back to the ground, landing stylishly in front of her uncle. "Now that that's out of your system, go find your team and get into your damn bullhead."

Another blur of red, this time accompanied with a shower of rose petals, marked Ruby's path throughout the carved paths in the ground. Shrieks of shock echoed around the cave as she picked up members of her team in the vacuum of her Semblance, dragging them unwillingly from their resting places, and pulling them along.

Qrow dashed off towards his hangar, careful to keep his Semblance from running rampant as he augmented his body with his Aura. His malignant Semblance pushed against his control, fighting for any leeway, looking for any cracks in Qrow's defenses. His iron grip kept the worst of it at bay, the only leak being a falling chunk of the cavern's ceiling.

He was at his hangar at record time, following the trail of his niece's petals.

While it was technically his personal hangar, Team RWBY had commandeered it for their own nefarious deeds. Amidst the wreckage of several bullheads, different heavy machinery, and the remains of CPUs and GPUs, sat the team's crowning achievement.

More beautiful than Ruby's hyperspeed, Blake's clones, Weiss' omnipotent glyphs, and Yang's Aura synthesis, Serenity was the pinnacle of engineering and computing genius. Much smaller than its parent bullheads, it sacrificed sliding side doors for one large rear hatch. The old engines were scrapped and replaced by Weiss' hyper-efficient SABRE engines, and were then moved to the rear of the craft. The wings were shortened and tucked in with foldable tips. To retain its vertical lift and takeoff, turbine fans were inserted into them.

Yang had put her foot down about the name, naming it after some derelict spaceship she saw in one of her defunct tv shows.

The oddly pleasing voice of an AI greeted him as he stepped into the threshold of the fuselage. Weiss and Blake spared no expense in combining their coding and computing knowledge in creating their AI, but had refused to let it be installed anywhere.

The official reasons were some vague sentences dealing with neurotoxin, test subjects, and something called a Weighted Companion Cube.

Best let sleeping dragons lie, especially since said dragon had retrofit a GAU-17/A Gatling Gun, which conveniently fired the same caliber shells as the dragon's sister. Those things could not be classified as bullets.

Blake and Yang were already seated in the pilot seats, absentmindedly rechecking items on their pre-flight checklist, making sure their AI had correctly marked them. Ruby was polishing the barrel of her scythe and fiddling with the wider grip and the added serration.

The new blade shined in the glow of the interior lights, foreshadowing the coming of the next harbinger. Ruby's finger danced along the edge and the sharpened blade easily drew blood. She didn't notice the pain and continue smearing light traces of crimson, hypnotized by the patterns she created. Weiss jostled her, trying to get her out of her trance, but received nothing close to a normal response.

Qrow took the stained weapon from Ruby's hands, and the cathartic girl let him, her eyes following the blade as Qrow collapsed the weapon and stowed it into one of the onboard lockers. Ruby snapped out of her stupor as soon as the blade disappeared from her sight, eyes regaining their silver gleam and smile returning to her face.

One of Yang's modifications, a linear induction motor, launched the craft from its hangar, greatly shortening its takeoff time. It was a great improvement to the steam catapult as it weighed less, occupied less space, and required less maintenance. Though its reliability was still a point of criticism, Yang refused to give up on her improvement.

On cue, the other nine bullheads on the mission launched from their hangars and fell into formation behind Serenity. Blake had to keep the throttle at 50% to avoid outstripping the older bullhead models. Even at half power, Serenity flew faster than the bullheads, Qrow wanting to be the first one on scene. The low velocity grated on the Weiss and Yang's nerves as the craft struggled to maintain lift, forcing the systems to switch the turbines on.

"You guys really put effort into this ship, didn't you?" Qrow stroked the metal paneling behind him. It looked nothing like a project designed by a bunch of schoolgirls, looking akin to a machine built by one Remnant's two major aircraft designers. Perfect welds, all hidden wires, and glowing displays weren't the hallmarks of amateurs. Not to mention the craft actually managed to get off the ground and didn't instantly explode from Weiss' custom engines and Yang's structural tinkering.

"Yes, yes they did." A disembodied voice answered his compliments, sounding out from all around him. He looked around to see the owner of the mechanical yet soothing voice, but only found a concealed speaker. "I am the ultimate in artificial intelligence, responsible for overseeing the nuances of the craft."

"That's really, really creepy. How did you have the time to create an entire AI between your responsibilities and training?"

"Hyperbolic Time Chamber." Weiss answered, playing with some numbers on a holographic screen.

"Hypibola Mind Chamber?" Qrow queried, and Weiss looked to mentally break at his ineptitude.

"Hyperbolic Time Chamber." She repeated.

"Hyperglycemic Crying Chamber?" Qrow was fucking with her, wanting to see how far he could take it.

"You get one more chance."

"Hypisbonic Rine Cham-" The rest of his sentence was cut short as Weiss spawned a series of glyphs across his mouth. The famous Schnee temper had broken and he'd gotten the bad end of it.

"It's her fancy way of saying she didn't sleep for most of her creation, and she also might have heavily depleted the coffee supply of Glenn." Ruby answered this time, smiling cheekily at her uncle. "You deserved that."

Qrow moped for the duration of the ride, sitting silently but occasionally picking at the glyphs. They refused to move under Weiss' unconscious hold, sticking to his skin harder than Winter in the mornings.

Those mornings were few and far between. With her trapped in Atlas and dictating part of its military, and Qrow trapped under , they rarely had the chance to spend time together. Ruby and Yang never failed to tease him about his relationship with the elder Schnee. The two would be step-sisters if Ruby ever found out about Qrow's past relationship with Summer.

The sudden appearance of red light bathing the interior told him they had arrived at the outskirts of the Capital Districts and would soon be spotted. The bullheads behind them spread out in hopes of avoiding the AAA fire.

Deafening blasts of exploding shells filled the air around them and Yang pressed the craft into a dive. The rear turbines switched off as Serenity calculated the descent trajectory and sent power to the wings. She pulled the craft a few meters shy of ground and the air around them remained blissfully free of any explosions.

The other bullheads couldn't follow them as quickly and were forced into a slower and more dangerous descent pattern. One of them dropped off the radar as a shell blew off one of the wings, taking the engine with it. The team on it had a ridiculously high chance of survival, no doubt bailing out as soon as their craft was hit. They'd have to proceed into the district on foot, avoiding any patrols.

The barrage stopped as several bogies appeared on Serenity's radar. Blake thumbed a button and Serenity flight profile changed. The wingtips folded in and the craft drifted sideways, continuing its forward momentum. The turbines whined as more power were sent to them with the entire weight of the craft riding on them.

Serenity precisely located the three White Fang bullheads tailing them and took aim with the powerful gatling cannon strapped under her nose. The momentum from the short and precise firing of the weapon propelled the craft further. Three bursts sounded out before Yang turned the craft back forwards.

The disappearance of the bogies marked another successful run of the targeting program. The metal carcasses of the ruined bullheads gracelessly crashed out of the sky at impacted the ground with a dull noise.

Perfect timing as Serenity thundered into skyline, weaving in and out between the antennas and buildings. Qrow grabbed onto the netting as Yang executed an aileron roll for the style points, and Weiss chalked up her points on her scroll. It wasn't even a close margin anymore, with the blonde leading by several hundred points.

Team RWBY and their Commander dropped out of Serenity when they reached the Council House, the cold winter air nipping at their skin as they plummeted. Above them, Serenity descended at a controlled rate, coming to a rest at a predetermined location some klicks from the House.

Ruby unlocked the Crescent Rose from her back and took aim at her target, bracing for the recoil by placing her feet against the joint between the blade and shaft. A pair of glyphs materialized as she fired it, one bathing the shell in a layer of ice Dust and the second stabilizing it.

Yang dove after the shell, but she lagged behind it as Weiss sped up its velocity for a series of glyphs. She followed its fiery path as it streak downward and her violet eyes lit up in lust as it bombed the Council House. The initial impact ruptured the roof, and the second layer of glyph kept its payload secure until it touched down.

An explosion of ice ripped the rest of the House open, immense shards spearing the ground and sending chunks of dirt across the landscape.

Their hopes of eliminating their targets fell as several tangos disengaged from the ice sculpture and moved to an empty clearing. It was a tactical advantage for their Commander as there'd be less for his malignant Aura to infect.

A slide of glyphs appeared over their landing zone and they positioned appropriately, Ruby and Qrow taking point with the rest of the team behind them. The other eight teams with them had other tasks while they engaged the core of Cinder's group, responsible for keeping reinforcements away from them and leaving them isolated in the clearing.

Weiss hovered above the battleground on a glyph, micromanaging her newest technique. Each of the Hunters in her care carried a small glyph anchored to their back.

 _\- Ruby Rose -_

Ruby made to engage Cinder along with her uncle, but the handle of a pink parasol grabbed her scythe, and on instinct, her grip on it tightened. The pink menace holding said umbrella wrested Ruby over to the other side of the clearing, flipping them over and away from the rest of their group.

Neo left her opponent on the ground and placed herself strategically, locking Ruby out from assisting her teammates. A small tug on her Aura meant Weiss was paying attention to her while also managing the others.

A wall of shimmering shards obscured her team, leaving her trapped in a small dome of kaleidoscopic colours. She knew Neo wouldn't let her escape, especially after their last showdown on top of the Airship where Torchwick had died.

She was at a distinct disadvantage, having no battle experience with the modifications she had put on them. The wider handle meant practiced twirls became cumbersome, and the added weight could throw her stances wide. Neo was however, probably the second most dangerous person right behind Cinder, and while fighting as a team, or even with a partner, was always optimal, keeping her occupied drew her away from Qrow's bout with the Queen.

Ruby sent a couple of shells at Neo's way, but the demoness batted them aside, pinging off her parasol and into the illusions surrounding their stage. They waved precariously, but reformed just as quickly.

Neo's smile disappeared as the fabric on her parasol tore slightly. She inspected the worn material, and leveled her best glare at the destroyer of her precious. The air wavered around her as she lost control of her Semblance, the anger of a primal force washing over Ruby. On closer inspection, it wasn't the air which wavered, but Neo's form, colours splaying in every direction.

The stabilization was Ruby's only warning as Neo rushed her. It was a different approach to the assassin's usual style of combat, and it put her on the defensive immediately. Crescent Rose crashed against Neo's blade, the shrill of metal echoing through them.

There was a terrifying glint in Neo's heterochromatic eyes, promising something not entire good for her opponent. Ruby let her push one side of the scythe down and countered with the spiked butt, harshly cutting into her.

Neo disappeared, her image shattering and scattering to the ground.

A sudden pain erupted on her calf and she kicked at her attacker, bringing her scythe around to cleave Neo in two. It collided with the material of her opponent's parasol, the ribs creaking dangerously under the heavy weight.

She lashed out, unfolding her scythe and bringing its serrated edge to its longest and greatest potential. The damage Neo had caused to her leg meant two very important points she needed to keep in mind during her battle. One, it meant a small hindrance to her movement, and two, it meant Weiss wasn't able to protect her.

Purposefully missing her strike, she used the leverage gained from its support when it landed on the ground to kick Neo in her side, sending her flying away. The pink menace flew haphazardly before her parasol snapped open and she corrected herself, landing daintily and throwing in a bow.

"Why're you keeping me trapped here?" She kept Crescent Rose ready, the worn grip a comfort in Neo's illusory world. She was stalling, knowing Neo was one of the strongest people she had ever fought, and keeping her away from Qrow and Weiss was of most import. The colours of the dome shifted to her question, the pinks, whites, and browns disappearing to show a soft blue. It was joined by what seemed like a sad smile from Neo, her stance shifting to passive. "Keeping me stalled here does nothing to help Cinder."

 _I know._ A picket sign appeared in Neo's offhand with these words. _You are the weakest out of all the Hunters who came with you today._ This message appeared on a large floating billboard, complete with lights and flashing LEDs. _You are destined for much more than you can believe, little Rose._

Ruby's hands tensed at the name Summer used to call her, a vague and foggy memory spurred to her forebrain.

"You're protecting me?" Another sad smile from Neo, her eyes flashing a calming silverish blue.

 _As a favour to an old friend and penance for my past._ A small note with the message materialized in Ruby's hand and then was wiped clean for the next one. _You're not ready to face her. Leave and train, for your Commander is lost._

Her eyes widened at Neo's statement and her Semblance activated, coating her form as she accelerated out. The dome shattered as she passed the boundary, taking Neo with it, revealing Ruby could've left whenever she wanted to. Her opponent was gone with the dome, scattered in the wind.

Those precious few minutes she had spent with Neo were enough to Cinder, Adam, and his Lieutenant to rip her team apart.

Off on the side, Adam and Blake competed in a game of cat and bull, with Blake frequently blinking in and out of reality with her clones, negating the worst of Adam's Semblance. They were locked in a battle of wills, alone, with Weiss' glyphs useless against Adam.

Yang, Qrow, and the airborne Weiss engaged the terrifying Maiden. Cinder zipped across the landscape at speeds comparable to Ruby's, moving and shifting the elements at her will. Lightning flashed across the skies as Cinder threw them at Weiss, keeping her occupied for her fight with Qrow and Yang, but Weiss remained trapped in a cocoon of her glyphs, unable to move her attention elsewhere while dealing with the elements around her.

Fire scorched the land as Cinder turned the fields into her personal hell. Flaming chunks of rock and debris orbited Cinder, acting as shields and distractions for Yang to deal with. Her tactics of ripping the land apart with her Semblance had backfired, only aiding Cinder. Weiss did her best to move the meteors out and away, but at best, could only do so partially, her attention elsewhere.

Qrow's Semblance raged right alongside the flames, black tendrils of Misfortune simultaneously feeding and quenching them at random. His red eyes burned crimson against the glow of Cinder's molten gold as their Semblances ravaged the land. Yang was hesitant to entire the minefield of Aura surrounding them and did her best to keep Weiss safe.

With Misfortune running rampant, it was only a matter of seconds until chaos reigned supreme and the fluctuations of Aura hindered one of them.

The ground under Qrow's foot buckled, and he only had milliseconds to react as a lance of lava and flame shot out from underneath him and pierced his chest, destroying his heart. Harbinger arced towards Cinder and tore into her chest, ripping off her arm and tearing a good chunk of lung out.

Devastatingly deadly injury, but not fatal.

With his final moments, Qrow released the full might of his Semblance, his Aura infecting the very air. The Lieutenant's body, deeply scorched and destroyed, fell further into a chasm leading deep in the earth. Lightning shot and detonated Weiss' cocoon, sending her flying far away from ground zero. Yang raced after her, grimacing at her uncle's final move, knowing he was far gone.

Adam and Blake shared a look of hesitance and nodded to each other, marking the close of their battle. Unable to win against Blake, Adam left her to her devices, leaping across the destroyed landscape in search of his Queen. Blake thumbed a device attached to the inside of her forearm, calling Serenity.

Ruby cared not for the rest of he team, her vision tunneling on the falling form of her uncle. She ignored the burning wreckage of battle and raced towards him, black petals streaming out behind her.

Silver light bathed the battlefield once covered in flame and black tendrils as Ruby landed next to Qrow and supported him, tears marring her face as they raced unabandoned down her cheeks.

Cinder ran, flashbacks of Ruby's last usage of her silver eyes prominent. She withdrew the Maiden powers and seared the worst of her injury down, her Aura running overtime as it struggled to heal the catastrophic injury. Her form shattered into reflective shards and she was gone.

"Hey kiddo." Qrow's eyes drifted shut as Ruby put pressure on the gaping hole in his chest, her hand barely able to span the diameter. "Tell Tai, I'm sorry."

The Commander of Glenn, successor to Ozpin, the spymaster of Vale, and father to one, died in Ruby's arms, hand clenched in hers, with a smile on his face.

* * *

AN: Writer's block and finals prevented this from coming out any sooner. Serenity may have the name from Firefly, but imagine Marvel Cinematic Universe's Quinjet. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and as always, leave a review.


	11. Enigmas

Chapter Eleven

* * *

 **Enigmas**

* * *

 _Team RWBY - Year 81 AGW_

Bullhead 004MNR jostled as it flew into Patch after crossing the narrow sea separating the island from mainland Vale, a spot of turbulence shaking the craft violently as part of a forming storm.

Team RWBY snapped awake, taking in the dimmed lights of the cockpit of their new craft. The Atlesian bullhead had been left behind at Menagerie, and this one had been flown instead, registered in every country as a Belladonna personal transport.

Weiss nuzzled into her Ruby pillow, being the smallest and most suited companion to keep her leader warm. She sat comfortably in her lap, basking in the small touches Ruby placed on her body. It was a terrible, but cute result of Ruby being shit at personal intimacy. A hug from her wasn't complete with awkward wandering hands as she struggled to figure out where the hell to put them.

Shivers ran up Weiss' spine as those calloused hands moved across her hips, moved down to her thighs, and then danced up to rest on her waist. If she had an extra pair of animal ears on top of her head, she was sure she'd be purring loudly, putting to shame the team's Faunus.

"I had a dream." Ruby's voice was quiet, barely audible with her face buried in Weiss' hair, eyes black voids against her white. Her sunglasses rested off to the side on the console, taken off in the privacy with her team. "It had… feeling?"

There was something akin to confusion in her voice, and her team couldn't tell if it was real or a byproduct of the creation of Ruby's mask. No terror at her monumental discovery of what could be emotions though.

"My... heart hurt as Qrow died in my arms." It was important to let Ruby talk during these and let her get anything she was thinking of off her chest. "I felt everything physical during his final moments: the heat of Cinder's flames, the pull of his Semblance, even the salty smell of my tears, but...nothing."

It was Weiss' turn to give a hug, providing the warmth her ruined cloak once did, a much needed comfort in those early weeks as they helped Ruby become Ruby again.

"It's okay." Weiss sat back on Ruby's lap and took her face in her hands, brushing her thumb along her cheekbones, making eye contact. The eerie and bleak void wasn't too terrible to look at with Ruby holding back the worst of Salem's punishment. Not even a reflection existed to show Weiss someone human was still in there.

"I think I'm supposed to be sad for some reason." Ruby took Weiss' hands in her own. "Sad you won't be able to see your Ruby again, and you're left with this shell."

"You're supposed to feel sad you lost an identity, and we're supposed to be the ones sad the old Ruby is gone. Your rational self understands what it is to lose Ruby, yet you can't empathize with it."

"I wonder if reconstructing Ruby is a worthwhile project." She sighed and leant over to press a button on the console, sending the bullhead into a landing pattern. "Understanding is not empathizing, and I doubt my mental state will ever heal."

"We won't know if we stop trying."

* * *

Burgundy eyes followed the path of a bullhead as it landed. They strained to make out the identification number on its tail, making out the incredibly rare suffix of MNR, marking the craft as Menagerie Royalty.

Four figures left the bullhead and ran across the lawn, leaping onto a glyph positioned at the bottom of a window. One of the figures stared at the silhouette containing those red eyes, her own silver sunglasses reflecting Remnant's moon. While the other three entered the house, she jumped up and landed on the roof.

"Hi Uncle Qrow. Taking roost for the night?" Ruby stood next to him at the highest point of the gable roof, dark against the night.

"Crow jokes? Didn't realize Yang's influence on you." He deadpanned, taking a drink from his flask. "Does your favorite uncle get a hug?"

Ruby cocked her head, face unreadable, but stepped in for a hug. She had seen her uncle die in her arms a few minutes ago, and here he was, scruffy as always. Summer and Rei had to fight the annoying feeling of sentimentality.

"Sure." The hug wasn't as stilted or automatic as it should have with Weiss' cuddles in the bullhead earlier. "When did you get to Patch?"

"The day after you left. Taiyang called me after you and Yang snuck out in the middle of the night with what he could only assume to be Weiss Schnee."

"It was a nice vacation. Menagerie is beautiful in the summer." She didn't do much sightseeing herself, but she enjoyed the country for its harmonious societal standards. Qrow's Aura slipped, and Ruby took that as him feeling surprise.

"I'm more interested in how you even managed to get into Menagerie with a Schnee onboard." Qrow's eyebrows neared his hairline.

"You know who Blake is. Not much they can do when their princess demands they let her friend in."

"A princess wanted in Vale for organized armed protest, grand larceny, and aiding and abetting the White Fang." His eyes narrowed at Ruby's impassive face. "Not to mention her suspected involvement with the murder of eight Fang members in one of the southern agricultural districts."

Ruby paused, taking in the information. He had no doubt interrogated the lone Faunus Blake let live, and run the identification tag of the bullhead she flew into Patch, noting it was stolen several months ago by the White Fang.

"And what do you plan to do?" Ruby dropped the pretense of being Qrow's niece and let Summer take hold, sinking into her mindscape to play with Rei. "The only evidence of her involvement is the word of another criminal, who won't try his luck with Vale's criminal court system."

Qrow's Aura turned inward as he wrestled with his niece's arguments, thinking over her words and implications.

"A friend would vehemently deny such accusations, but you, you offer counterarguments. You don't deny her involvement, but you also don't justify her actions, meaning she told you, but you chose to keep it quiet." Qrow took a sip from his flask, staring at Ruby's sunglasses all the while. "And you don't seem to care."

"On the contrary, I care very much. Did they deserve to die for a bullhead? Perhaps no. But it doesn't change who Blake is."

"A murderer, and a traitor to her people." Qrow snarled, his Semblance ripping tiles off the roof, sending them skittering down the slope.

"A Hunter, and my girlfriend." Ruby bantered back, unaffected by his roiling Semblance, even as she backstepped off a broken tile. "Come next semester, she'll be on my team at Beacon."

"You're fifteen Ruby." Qrow's rage melted away at Ruby's confession. Too young for Beacon, and definitely too young for a lover. I get you're trying to protect her, but she killed eight people."

"Hypothetically, of course. You're Beacon's spymaster, not Vale's last time I checked." Qrow wasn't sure about Ruby's implications. Yes, he worked directly for Beacon, and, she hadn't yet asked him to bury Blake's involvement, meaning she wanted it reported, but just to the right people. "I get you're trying to protect me, but I trust her with my life."

"You know I have to report my findings to Beacon, right?" Ruby nodded, already knowing he'd have to. It be put under Blake's file when she went to Beacon. There was no question to whether or not she'd pass the initiation exams, being a high valued political asset. Ozpin and Qrow could keep a much easier watch knowing her general location. "I don't want you getting hurt."

Ruby knew exactly what he was speaking about. His Semblance made his personal relationships hell, at worst, and his past on Team STRQ didn't help his case either. His sister had abandoned him for her notions of family, leaving him behind to fulfill his duty, and his lover had died shortly after giving birth to their child. He didn't have many ties, but he did his best with the few he had.

"If she ever does hurt me, then you'll have to beat Yang to punishing her, and then beat Weiss to smacking both of them around." Ruby smiled, gently pushing Summer back to her mindscape and reasserting control. Rei was happy either way.

"You make strange friends Ruby." He chuckled. "How'd the four of you become friends? The Schnee heiress and Menagerie's princess, along with my two adorable nieces?"

" _Icha Icha: Heaven_ , Chapter 4." Ruby disappeared in a cascade of red petals before Qrow could properly find the page among his mental notes of porn.

A tree fell in the distance once he did.

* * *

He watched from his perch on the chimney as Ruby and her future team jumped out into the backyard at the crack of dawn, still lost in his memory of Chapter 4. It certainly explained how four girls fit into a room with only 2 twin beds.

Though they were all dressed in workout clothes, several differences stood out glaringly obvious. For one, Ruby was still wearing her silver sunglasses. He was willing to chalk them up to her regular quirkiness, like her cloak, but even that was missing. Reflective lenses were notoriously dark, especially during sunrise. She was practically blind wearing them, unless she learned how to work around her eyes.

Her movements betrayed nothing as she took point of the group and they disappeared into the woods along a beaten path. She moved perfectly fine, stepping out of the way of roots and rocks alike before they left his field of vision. It was interesting how the three girls followed her when there were no orders given, and no hand signs he could see. They were all older than her and vastly more experienced to the young redhead, but they treated her with deference.

More interesting was the tattoo on her left shoulder. A silvery grey image of Remnant's moon glittered in the sunrise. There was no feasible way she knew what the cracked moon stood for among the Hunters. She didn't have it the last time he saw her, and he knew Taiyang would never have allowed her to get one.

It was the other tattoo on her teammate which grabbed his attention moreso.

On Blake's left shoulder sat an indigo White Fang tattoo. It wasn't their new logo however. Rather than the exaggerated fangs and the three claw mark running through it, the old emblem was stamped proudly. Around it were four petals in blood red, sky blue, dark purple, and yellow order, no doubt for each member of her team. She looked everything like her mother if it wasn't for it.

And Weiss was nothing like Winter described.

Shy and meek were the few words she used to describe her, but unless society redefined short shorts and sports bra in the last few days, she was anything but. Hidden partially by the crisscrossing straps of her top, the tattoo of the four petals peeked through, straddling her spine. Not to mention her hair had been drastically shortened to about Ruby's length. Winter kept a photo of her in her wallet for reference.

It wasn't hard to find where Yang had her four petals. They were tattooed prominently on the inside of her right forearm. Her hair was the longest of the four, but even it seemed shorter than usual. It must've been the ponytail for he knew Yang would rather die than let someone touch, let alone cut, her precious hair.

Wherever Ruby kept her tattoo was a mystery, as he couldn't spot the four petals anywhere.

The more he noticed about these four girls, the more questions he had about them. Maybe it wasn't too late to crawl into bed and spend the new few hours with Winter in his arms. At least his relationship with her made sense. This person who confronted him last night wasn't the niece he knew. She was rational with her arguments, and didn't let her emotions get the best of her when coming to the defense of her friend.

She hadn't denied Blake's involvement, nor offered an alibi to her whereabouts to dissuade him from pursuing his lead. She knew she had committed a crime, and knew he'd go investigating as per his nature and assignment, yet was fine with him reporting it. She also looked entirely unperturbed he accused Blake of such.

Maybe after a nap, and a healthy dose of drink, Ruby Rose would begin to make sense.

* * *

Ruby wasn't having the best of mornings.

She didn't need an MRI scan to figure out Weiss' concerns about her missing ovaries were real and imminent. The mental effects could be easily missed due to her psychopathy, but she couldn't ignore the hot flashes and night sweats.

Blake had been distressed at the revelation.

The long term effects of no estrogen and progesterone could mostly be dealt with her Aura. The cognitive impairment was solved with her Semblance, the dementia wasn't a problem with Summer and Rei, the increased risk of cardiovascular disease could be managed with proper dieting and exercise, and the osteoporosis was resolved with Aura.

The increased mortality rate wasn't a problem as the average Hunter's mortality rate was far higher than the average mortality associated with impromptu surgical oophorectomy.

Hormone therapy would remove all of the side effects, but it wasn't a readily accessible drug. As a minor, Ruby couldn't walk into a hospital and be given a narcotic. She still fell under Taiyang's jurisdiction, and until she became an adult in the eyes of the law, she'd have to stretch her Aura to cover the hormonal imbalance.

Qrow had continued his watch from his perch. His Aura was a moody black, a black so black she had to redefine black for Blake's Aura looked bright purple in comparison. Tai must've put him on night duty and backed it up with a heavy dose of blackmail for there was a white Aura shifting restlessly in the guest bedroom.

It didn't take a genius to figure out Tai had called Qrow when he saw the three of them sneak out with Weiss. Qrow would have made an educated guess as to which Schnee could possibly be on Patch, and then called Winter down to confront and see her sister. It was a nice gesture, different from the broody crow watching them right now.

He was gone when they returned from their forest run, probably gone back to his room to enjoy the next few hours in comfort.

That meant they had at least a couple of hours to steal all of the house's hot water before anyone got up for a late morning. Weiss, knowing Winter, knew she wasn't getting up anytime past noon, and Tai was not one to look vacation days in the face.

* * *

Taiyang strolled into his dining room fully expecting to have to prepare breakfast for the entire household. Breakfast for seven wasn't the easiest to make, especially if all of them were Hunters at some capacity.

Eggs, bacon, and pancakes were about the only things he could quickly make, and was the only damn breakfast he could think of, especially with those delicious scents wafting out of the kitchen.

No one should have been up this early, but Ruby and Yang were known to wake up at dawn, among other more unusual hours, and clang around the house with no respect to his peace and quiet.

What he got instead that morning was Ruby dancing around the kitchens, flipping skillets, breaking eggs, and mixing batter, all with a precision he'd never seen before in the teenager, long sleeves rolled up to her elbows. At the dining table were his two guests.

Blake's headed rested in the crook of her left elbow, while her right hand nursed a cup of coffee. She was comatose other than the small twitches from her fingers and cat ears.

Weiss was similarly drinking from a cup of scorching coffee which looked to only be a few degrees from evaporating, steam pouring over the lip of the mug. She wasn't however face down into a table, but reading from a familiar orange book.

"Good morning Ta-Dad." To him, Ruby's slip up sounded nothing more than her saying 'Tada!', which wasn't too far from any of her quirks. The reflective sunglasses were a new touch, but she'd eventually get bored with them, just like the time she had tried to copy wearing one of Yang's scarves, or tried drinking with Qrow. They were nothing more than another of her mimicking games with Yang. "I made breakfast."

"Good morning Mr. Xiao-Long. Please excuse my slob of a friend for lacking the courtesy to greet her host." Blake flicked off Weiss quickly before leaving the comfort of her elbow and straightening in her seat, smiling at her future pseudo-father-in-law.

"Good morning." Tai took the offered plate of breakfast and sat across from Weiss. "Just call me Tai. I get enough of formality in my work."

"Then my name is Weiss, and her name is Blake." She went back to her coffee, taking a sip before going back to her dog-eared book. "And none of the formalities with us either."

Tai filed the nonexistent interaction between the two for later inspection. The Princess of Menagerie was letting the Schnee Heiress speak for her.

"That's a very bold book you're reading. Not many would dare read it in the open."

"She reads it going down the street. Her reading it while sitting at a table isn't anything new." Ruby finished up her cooking and handed out plates for the other house's guests, taking a seat next to Tai. "Personally, I think it lacks in plot and character development, and is nothing more than fanservice."

Before Tai could process the fact Ruby had even touched such a book, Blake startled and shifted the table violently as a red laser dot appeared on her hand. Her ears wiggled dangerously and her pupils dilated as she grabbed for the dot, but it moved away from her hand.

"I guess now we know what Yang was looking for in the garage." Ruby looked over as Blake dashed from her seat and gave chase, leaping after the tantalizing dot. "She spent fifteen minutes looking for a fucking laser."

Yang giggled from her position next to the garage door as she caused Blake to crash into the couch in vain chase.

Blake leveled her best glare at her blonde teammate, picking herself up and launching forward with cataclysmic force. Yang didn't even try defending, taking the blow and rolling the angry feline around to pin her down. She grinned broadly at her capture, sitting comfortably, acting as a weight.

"Get off of Blake and give me the laser." Yang pouted at her defeat and allowed Blake to roll her over, obediently following her into the kitchen and handing over the laser toy to Ruby, who placed it safely into her leg pouch. "You'll get it back after breakfast."

This was supremely weirding out Tai. Ruby was the younger sister to Yang, but Yang was listening to Ruby.

Yang looked happy enough she'd get it back later, and Blake looked murderous as they took their spots around the table and ate their breakfast, yet neither tried to complain against Ruby's orders, for they could be nothing but.

The two's shenanigans caused the other two house's guests to stumble into the kitchen. Winter was the ever perfect picture of the next Atlesian General, which fell apart as soon as she saw Weiss reading from a little orange book.

"Hi Winter." Weiss didn't look up. "What brings you to Patch, other than screwing Beacon's spymaster silly?"

"You." She took one of the plates and sat next to Weiss, ignoring the accusation. "It's a little late for your teenage rebellion, for you to be sneaking out of Atlas, cavorting with terrorists, cutting your hair, and reading porn." Blake didn't react to the barb, smiling infuriatingly.

"Like you haven't read it, hypocrite. I'm pleased my rebellion warranted a visit from you, but as you can see, I survived my trip to Menagerie, other than a hiccup with their customs."

"Considering Blake threatened to leave if they didn't let her in, there wasn't much they could say to prevent her from entering. Ghira and Kali were nice enough, given your family's crimes against the Faunus. I think they warmed up to her." Ruby chimed in.

"They gave you cookies. There's nothing they can do to appear bad to you." Yang rolled her eyes. Cookies and Ruby went along better than Blake and fish.

"And why did you even go to Menagerie, and how do you know any of these people, especially their princess?"

"Considering I stole all of the Castle's Faunus staff, I kinda needed to go and relocate them to a new place. Moving them to Vale would let our father put pressure on them, so moving them to Menagerie was the best choice, also giving Blake a chance to see her home after several years absence. I couldn't leave Bast to be punished for my leaving."

"And do you know exactly what your _friend_ was doing during her several year absence?"

"Leaving Menagerie at the age of twelve, she followed her mentor in the ranks of the White Fang. At sixteen, over a dispute about the use of violence as the Fang militarized, she left and spent the next year as a drifter around Vale, eventually setting her sights on attending Beacon. There isn't much I don't know about my girlfriend."

Cue Yang facepalming into the table, WInter choking on her food, and Qrow dropping his fork.

"I thought Ruby was supposed to be dating Blake." Qrow added his two cents into the brewing clusterfuck. Tai bent his fork out of shape, his parent glare coming out in full force.

"You're cheating on me?" Ruby's quiet voice wavered out into the kitchen, tears running down her cheeks, her acting lessons coming in handy. Tai's glare moved from Ruby to Blake, and the Faunus pulled Weiss into her lap, using her as a shield. Weiss was nonplussed, continuing to read.

"I'll get you an entire crate of strawberries if you forgive me." Blake peeked out through Weiss' hair.

"Done." Sad Ruby disappeared, leaving behind a blank facade.

The rapid shift of emotions left the entire table lost for words. Qrow took it with stride, moving back to his breakfast, Winter just sat there in a stupor, mouth wide open and moving but with no sounds coming out, and Tai repeatedly alternated looking between the three girls involved.

"And what do I get for you cheating on me, Weiss?" Yang couldn't help but join in a further the chaos. Ruby halfway expected Neo to drop through in a portal with ice cream to watch, but she couldn't feel any such disturbances. Winter further devolved into wide-eyed stares.

"One of my signed editions of _Icha Icha: Bondage_ , with author sketches." Yang didn't look happy about such a deal, knowing she could take and read them whenever she wanted. "For keeps."

Yang juggled the idea in her head, and finally nodded, satisfied with the deal. The four of them went back to their food, leaving the adults exchanging looks of confusion.

"I assume, at this point, some TV show host is going to pop up and yell 'Pranked!' or something." Qrow looked around for a hidden camera, possibly mounted in a corner or inside the toaster. He could never trust a toaster after a particular incident involving a bagel, a glow stick, and a pack of playing cards.

"Damn, that would've been a great idea." Yang handed over a wad of Lien to Ruby. "I bet her you wouldn't be surprised by our prank."

"Can I also assume the four of you didn't meet through Chapter 4 of _Icha Icha: Heaven_?"

"Well, that's not how we met, but I'm not denying any such scene didn't take place. Yang has a habit of sneaking drinks in and none of us can match her to any degree, which I blame you for entirely."

"It's always great to hear my niece has a drinking problem." Qrow deadpanned.

"It's not a problem because she literally can't get drunk. Her Semblance metabolizes the alcohol too quickly for it to pass into her cells. We gave her Everclear and she only got really happy and tipsy."

"I'm sorry, I'm a little lost here. I've known Yang to indulge before, but what exactly happens in Chapter 4?"

That brought the room to a standstill, everyone, including Winter, turning to look weirdly at Taiyang.

"You're the only man I know who hasn't read _Heaven_ yet. It's the first book in the series. What do you do with your free time?" Qrow remarked. The books weren't a open subject for many, but discovering Tai hadn't read the first probably meant he hadn't read any of them.

"Teach. I don't really get much free time between my duties as administrator and professor. Now, I really don't want to know about my kids' sex life, so drop it."

"I didn't even realize Weiss was in such a relationship. Our father isn't going to take this lightly." Winter grimaced. She could avoid Jacques entirely, hiding behind her duties as a Hunter, but Weiss wouldn't be so lucky this summer.

"Beacon starts in two months, and everything I own is upstairs, so I never have to go back to Atlas. Under Atlesian law, I'm a adult, which means I get to choose where I live, and assuming I can crash here until Beacon starts, I'm staying here."

"You do realize you're supposed to be image of the SDC. Our father can't have you running rampant on your own. He'll send people out the find you."

"The only people who know I'm here are in this room, so the only way he'd find me us if you tell him, because none of my friends will sell me out to that racist."

"Hey, if you want to rebel, rebel all you want. I'm just telling you to facts. How's your training going along?"

"I'm still shit at summoning, but I'm decent with my glyphs. I'm working on strengthening each glyph I create, working on one at a time before I move to holding more. Yang can still break through them easily."

"She's stronger than I initially gave her credit for." Winter tutted. "Well, if you're sure of your choice then I really have to be going. I've overstayed my vacation time as it is, and James is already going to saddle me with work. Don't need a reason for him to give me more."

Weiss crashed into Winter, giving a tight hug. "See you later sis."

"See you later snowflake. I like the haircut by the way. Daring, just like your new choice of literature." Winter left the house after giving Qrow a kiss to his cheek, driving back to Signal where her personal airship waited for her.

"I can give you this finally." Blake removed her scroll and handed it to Qrow. "My report from the incident of District 97A." It was several days overdue, but better late than never. It'd allow Qrow to run tighter damage control given her perspective.

"This has Ruby's signature on it." Qrow briefly skimmed the report, scrolling all the way to the bottom, finding two signatures on it.

"The four of us plan to go to Beacon and get placed together, and as their future leader, I have to monitor and sign off any reports going to Beacon."

"You haven't even graduated Signal yet, Ruby. Are you so eager to leave me behind and go to Beacon?" Tai pouted, like the man-child he could be at times.

"I want a team, and I won't get one at Beacon." Ruby simply replied. "They trust me to lead them."

"You're the youngest of them." Tai pointed out. "And the least experienced."

"Yet they choose to follow me." Ruby emulated one of Blake's smiles.

* * *

 **AN:** Someone message me next time I take such a massive hiatus to get my ass into gear. Hope you enjoyed.


	12. Commandants

Chapter Twelve

* * *

 **Commandants**

* * *

Qrow's reports were, as usual, both the zenith and nadir of his month.

On one positive, they provided critical information on the machinations of the Council along with their prospective future voting patterns and their constituents, sometimes allowing him to place into power one of his undercover Hunters into positions of authority.

Another positive were the reports on his sister organization in Atlas, overseen by his longtime friend, James Ironwood. Qrow's intimate relationship with a future General gave his information credibility above any of his other sources. No doubt the eldest Schnee was exploiting Qrow for similar information, but such was the game.

His reports about internal unrest and potential hotspots for Grimm nests were invaluable pieces which were directly sent into the system for the nearest District assigned Hunters to deal with.

On the other hand, his reports on the White Fang were worrying to say the least. Since their disappearance from the public sphere a year ago, only bits and scraps of useful information managed to get ensnared on Qrow's web. Other information, of course, made its way available from time to time, but most of them had to be cast aside for fear of misinformation.

Misinformation was always worse than no information, and Qrow had to thread carefully to verify certain reports, most of which he did so personally. Though he had underlings, none were as professional or as skilled as him. If Qrow wasn't as good as he was, then maybe he could reprimand him for a good chunk of his budget being spent on alcohol, but the man continued delivering stellar work.

The most interesting report regarding the White Fang was an oddity, as it was both worrying, and a relief. To know the estranged princess of Menagerie was safety scurried away on Patch allowed them to keep an eye on her, especially with the report she had submitted to him through Qrow. It certainly answered the underlying question as to who had decimated a Fang outpost in one of the southern districts.

It was a bigger relief to know of her intentions to apply to Beacon for the fall semester. Keeping her close gave him an invaluable insight into Menagerie, and potentially the White Fang. Her apparently apathetic attitude towards the Fang would've to be watched though.

Her relationship with the youngest Schnee was a surprise. To even suspect to two knew each other were gambling odds he'd never take, but to suspect they could remain in each other's presence without sniping about the other's past was a shock. They were both now on Patch under the care of Signal's Taiyang.

Weiss Schnee was another oddity.

Her application to Beacon wasn't as surprising as her sudden appearance on Patch. He had planned from the very beginning to place her with a Faunus teammate to slowly alter her perceptions of them, but it seemed her prejudices didn't stretch nearly as far as he had feared.

The letter he had received from Ghira Belladonna had sealed the two's placement together on a team, and filled out the other two spots nicely. Yang Xiao-Long had graduated Signal with top marks, but the girl sitting at a table in an interrogation room borrowed from the local police, currently getting berated by Glynda, hadn't. His several times great-granddaughter must've made quite the impression for Ghira to recommend her as a team leader.

Her face was cool and impassive as Glynda stalked around her, not smiling as Glynda praised her for a job well done, nor flinching as her riding crop smacked harshly against the metal table.

He stalked out of the shadows as Glynda segwayed his entrance, holding a mug of cocoa in one hand, and a plate of cookies in the other. The addiction to chocolate ran in the bloodline.

"Ruby Rose…" He bent down and looked her square in the eyes, unable to see past the silver shades. "So, where did you learn to do this?" He gestured to the scroll Glynda was holding as footage of her battle with Roman and his goons played.

"Your spymaster, renowned for his usage of a sword-scythe named Harbinger, is coincidentally my uncle." His Deputy stiffened slightly as Ruby casually mentioned Qrow's profession. She shouldn't have known such critical information.

"I see." So she was still in the dark about his true relationship to her. "And what is an adorable girl, such as yourself, doing wielding one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"

"Crescent Rose is one of a kind, based solely on my uncle's weapon. You won't find another like it." His lips twitched at his own error, and he placed the cookies down as a peace offering. Most of them disappeared quicker than he could blink, leaving only three on the plate. "I crafted it during my time at Signal Academy."

"And what would you be doing at a school designed to train warriors?" He took a sip of his drink and sat across from her. Ruby displayed the first emotion he had seen, raising at eyebrow.

"I want to be a Hunter." Her usage of the male form of the title didn't go unnoticed.

"You want to slay monsters?" Most who went into the corps were in it for glory or the thrill of fighting Grimm, the evil of the world. That attitude quickly weeded out the reserves from the elites.

"No. I want to protect the people of Vale from said monsters. Slaying Grimm is an added bonus." Her answer brought him up short. It was the first he'd ever gotten from any applicant, astoundingly so since she was younger than his usual. "We both know there are many more dangers in this world than petty crime, Headmaster, and I will do my part in preventing it."

She spoke far more mature than any girl should have at her age.

"I'm prepared to offer you a spot at Beacon this coming semester, pending your answers to a few of my questions." Ruby waited patiently for him to continue, not deeming a response necessary. "You recently undersigned a report delivered by Blake Belladonna concerning the incident in District 97A, telling me you wish to be a team leader. A few days earlier, I had received a letter from King Belladonna recommending the formation of a team with his daughter, one Weiss Schnee, your sister, and you as leader. Why should you, of all people, lead a team of Hunters?"

"I'll tell you if Professor Goodwitch leaves the room." Ruby had a creepy smile on her face, and he only had to exchange a partial glance with his Deputy for her to leave. "I'm going to assume, for whatever reason, you have no idea who I am and no idea what I've accomplish. Correct?"

"You're a third year student at Signal Academy, born to Taiyang Xiao-Long and Summer Rose on the winter of 66. Trained by your uncle Qrow since the death of your mother, you created Crescent Rose to honour her, and him for taking you under his wing. You have very good scores in combat, yet your theoretical scores are lacking. That's all your uncle has told me."

Ruby looked briefly over to the corner of the room they were in, staring blankly for several seconds before returning to stare back at him.

"Your decision to allow me into your school was made the moment you saw the footage of my fight with Roman Torchwick. Your decision to put the four of us on a team was made the moment Ghira's letter arrived, and only reinforced by Qrow's report on us, no doubt having witnessed several of our training sessions. My team would be a powerhouse, having the daughter of Summer, the daughter of Taiyang, the heiress to the Schnees, and the princess of Menagerie."

"Yet you haven't answered why you should be in charge of them." She gave good points. Lumping the four of them would make them a worthy team, even in just the political sphere, and if Qrow's reports were anything to go by, they'd be a nightmare against any Grimm nest they came across.

"I'll give you the chance to see my leadership skills during the entrance exam, and if you decide I shouldn't lead the team, I will allow one of them to do so." His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. It was a great characteristic to be humble, not wanting the leadership role, and exactly what made certain teams great.

"With what Qrow tells me, you four will have nothing to worry about." He leaned back in his chair, staring idly at the three cookies still on the plate, wondering why she hadn't eaten them yet.

"Before I leave, I must ask. Will Blake face punishment for her actions concerning the incident in District 97A?" Concern for her teammates was already a point in her favour.

"As far as I'm concerned, the only people who know the details of the incident are you, Blake, me, and Qrow. Once she passes the entrance exam, you, and your team will take a psychological evaluation to determine whether you can continue training, given Blake and Weiss' past, and your own ability to command."

"I will see you come fall semester then." Ruby nodded as if it wasn't news to her, and stood from her chair. "One of the cookies is for you, and the other is for Professor Goodwitch. I can smell the chocolate coming from your cup, and no woman can resist chocolate."

"And who's the last cookie for?" Ruby didn't answer, grabbing the cookie and moving to the corner she had looked at previously, holding it out in front of her.

"Thanks for the ice cream." The corner shimmered and the illusion fell away, revealing the S-ranked criminal, Neo On. She flashed an incomprehensible hand sign only Neo could see.

Ruby disappeared from the room before he could question her, leaving behind a trail of nearly black rose petals. Glynda popped briefly back into the room, but he waved her away, stating she could go back to Beacon without him, Neo bringing up her invisibility again.

She took Ruby's spot at the table once she left, casually leaning back in her seat, slowly munching on the cookie. It wasn't her usual fare, but it was a snack either way.

"You know her?" Neo nodded to his question. He would know her as the terrifying High Commander, her only equal, if he only had had the caution to send his own soul into the void between the multiverses, preventing Team RWBY from having to build their reputation from scratch. "How?"

Neo refused to answer this one, stubbornly holding his gaze while tracing the handle of her weapon, so he had to continue with a different line of questioning.

"What do you think of her?" Neo's eyes glimmered with what he could only guess to be pride, admiration, and longing. Why she would feel anything close to these emotions for the young redhead was worrying.

 _There is more to her than you will ever know, Evander_. His eyes narrowed at Neo's usage of his previous name. Evander was the name he had gone by when he had ruled as Vale's Warrior King, and it meant 'good man' in a language long dead. _She's the last of the Silvereyes, the last of your legacy, your bloodline, stretching back to the time of unmitigated warfare._

"Most of which, I recall, were your fault." Neo's smile held no guilt for her actions. The Silvereyes had been the guardians of peace during the turmoil after the Atomic Wars, strong and unrelenting, blessed with a fraction of his own powers.

Until Neo and Salem had decimated their ranks and reduced their numbers to a mere few ten, plunging the world into another series of wars. Humankind had struggled to survive, even underground, but they were resilient if nothing else, rebuilding society after the wars had died down.

But the Silvereyes had never recovered, their numbers slowly dwindling across the centuries until the last of them, Summer Rose, had given birth, and then perished.

 _She'll make a good successor for you._ His eyes narrowed further, but a wry smile made its way onto his face. _She already knows about me afterall._

"And how much does she know about you? She's shown a remarkable aptitude for accepting death and pain, noted by her witnessing the Belladonna's report of her murder of eight Fang members, along with the way she handled Torchwick and his thugs, leaving most of them with broken limbs. How much have you taught her?"

"Nothing." Neo's raspy and dry voice told him everything he had accused her of was false. It caused her much pain to form any sort of sound, much less any syllables or words. _She knows of my past, all the way to where and when I was born._ Ozpin started to say something, but she cut him off with a hand motion. _I knew from the moment I met her, she would be your successor._

"Why her? She's the last of my children. Why force her into my position?" He already knew the answer, but he needed to hear it from her.

 _Because we both know who'll be coming after her once she's out in the open as one of your Hunters._ Neo leaned forward in her seat, placing her head into her steepled fingers. _Her life will be challenging because you couldn't keep it in your pants. It's your duty now to help her._

He drained the last of his cocoa.

"I'll help her as I'm both her grandfather and her Commander, but why are you helping her? You did, after all, kill her mother."

 _I have my reasons, but you should ask her about the tattoo on her left shoulder the next time you see her._ Neo stood from her seat, twirling open her parasol and resting it on her shoulder. _And she doesn't judge me for my actions in her mother's death._

She was gone before he could stop her, shattering into thousands of shards, leaving him alone in the room with his thoughts. He stared dejectedly at his empty mug, wishing there was more for him to consume.

Only one thought got him moving.

 _Ruby Rose… who are you?_

* * *

Neo reappeared in a swirl of pinks and whites in a familiar pocket dimension of purple and red, having spent the last few hours indulging in Fortescue's great ice cream.

The gradient sky shifted about as flying Grimm streaked through it, Drakes and Griffons coexisting peacefully. The cracked black ground was littered with thousands of nests of all the other types of Grimm, their red eyes piercing through the smog to look at her.

They knew better than to provoke her.

The grand throne room was empty, and to her knowledge, had never been used and only served as a point of pride for Ozpin's sister.

Salem herself was in the greenhouse, sitting by the side of a fountain spewing purple water. Deep violet vines, with bright red and pink flowers interspersed on them, wrapped around columns, adding colour to the otherwise bleak landscape. A baby Griffon played at her feet, begging for attention from its mother.

"You're not one to usually drop by without an invitation. Has my palace finally grown on you?" Salem picked up the Grimm and began nurturing it negativity, black coils leaving her hand and landing along its still immature form. The little thing began to purr quietly, enveloped in a shell of smoke.

 _Today I learned there still exists a Silvereye on Remnant, the daughter of one Summer Rose._ Neo transmitted her thoughts loudly, knowing Salem was waiting for them. _Your brother has offered her a place at his Academy._

"One Silvereye does not a threat make. She has no use for me." Neo knew why she had no use for her, not after the experiments on her mother had failed so catastrophically. "Letting her live is a mercy."

 _She knows of my part in her mother's death, yet she considered me her friend._ Salem laughed at the implication of Neo having someone to call a friend. They both knew she was far too broken to understand the concept of friendship. _She's on Patch, and I want you to observe her._

Her careful wording made the vengeful Queen contemplate her words. She wasn't asking much from her, not asking for any Grimm to go and kill the child, nor asking for her to go out and personally meet her.

A Seer Grimm floating into the greenhouse, its core glowing soft red. Salem caressed the bone like fragments and reached deep within, her hand disappearing amongst the strong glow. Her conscious left her form and soared across the planes and into the mortal realm, flying towards the small island of Patch.

There were several burgeoning nests on Patch for her to take advantage of, and as homage to the pink maniac dancing beside her body, she took control of an Alpha Beowolf, ordering its nest mates to stay behind while she commanded it to venture forward, following the mental nudges Neo sent her.

The dark was no impediment for her children as the Alpha maneuvered the forested terrain, eventually coming to a clearing behind a wooden rustic house. A figure, black against the midnight sky, detached from the chimney and appeared in front of the Alpha, a large weapon strapped to her back..

"You know better than to wander near here." The girl showed no fear when faced with an Alpha three times her height and many times her size. No anticipation at the prospect of a fight, no anger at discovering a Grimm near her home, no disgust for the creature in front of her, no surprise at its presence. There was absolutely nothing radiating from the girl, not even at her basest level. "Yet you are alone, standing near a house containing five Hunters, with not one of your packmates to assist you."

 _Yet she doesn't draw her weapon._ Neo's mental caress reached her and she took notice. The weapon seemed absurdly large compared to the girl who looked to be only slightly larger than Neo. Of course, maybe it was just the Grimm she was inhabiting.

Ruby stared up at the Alpha's red eyes through her silver shades, mocking her by hiding her brother's gift. The silver could only partially emulate the blinding and cleansing power they held. It wasn't until she took them off that she understood why she was wearing them in the first place.

 _She's empty._ Where she expected to see her brother's silver eyes staring right back at her, she only saw twin voids of nothing. No light dared gleam from within, but neither did darkness encroach. She had given up her blood right to preserve a peace she didn't know needed to be kept, embodying the very Relic her brother kept locked beneath his school.

"It's an honour to meet the Queen of Grimm." Ruby bowed slightly, daring to close her eyes in front of an Alpha. Neo remained silent in her head, not commenting on how the girl knew who she was. "Your brother's bloodline is over as I will never have children. Of this I swear."

The Alpha couldn't convey the emotions rolling through the goddess. Shock someone knew her history with the man who called himself Ozpin, surprise she knew of her desires, and pride one of her brother's creation could be so selfless, to sacrifice his greatest gift before she had had a chance to use it.

 _Look into her soul._ Salem did as Neo bid her, the Alpha lowering its head to be snout-to-nose. Ruby didn't flinch when the Grimm stared at her with its unfeeling eyes. Salem stretched her presence into the girl, searching out for the primal force which classified sentient life.

She found not one, not two, but not entirely three separate souls residing within her The first soul she easily recognized as one of her own children, one she had personally created, her signature still imprinted on it. Neither of the two remaining souls were large enough to count as one, but they were so intertwined it was difficult to tell where one ended and the other started.

Before she could examine the oddity further, she found herself ejected back into the Alpha, and further yet, found herself back at her palace in her own dimension as Ruby cut down the Grimm before its own instincts could take over and defend itself.

 _Ruby Rose… who are you?_

* * *

 ** _AN:_** I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. I've gone over the first three chapters of Chrysalis and fixed any grammar and spelling mistakes. As always, tell me what you think about the chapter by dropping a review. I always enjoy reading how I can improve my writing.


	13. Home

Chapter Thirteen

* * *

 **Home**

* * *

Ruby could smell Jaune as he lost his lunch over the cliffs. He managed to hold out nicely during the Airship ride, but his stomach violently disagreed with him once he was back on stable land.

"How's the view?" Ruby was only a half step behind her sister, just close enough to where her secondary shields could keep track of her. Her scent chased away the smell of stomach acid and digested food, a warm mix of lilac with a hint of incense.

"Spawn little Rei on your head and you'll be able to see everything." Yang rebutted, gently pulling Ruby aside to avoid a rampaging student. The black gem pulsed coldly against her skin and Rei yipped incessantly in her head until Summer agreed to play with her.

"Sure, because spawning a Grimm in the middle of an Academy is such a good idea." Weiss spoke from her other side, reading from the newest in her favourite line of books. She could hear the whispers of disgust and shock as people connected the heiress to the SDC with written pornography.

She sent them sneers back, channeling her heiress training fully. They quickly averted their prying gaze from the ice blue eyes promising ridicule and shame.

"It'd certainly make for a great first impression. The blind redhead with a pet Grimm, her wife, the princess of Menagerie and former second to Vale's White Fang, her partner, the heiress to the Schnee Dust Corporation and notorious Faunus hater, and her sister, the infallible blonde juggernaut with a berserker button. Yes, I can imagine the rumours now."

"You're going to be real fun at the Beacon Dance, assuming you and Blake make it this time." Yang deadpanned.

"If Cinder is kind enough to infect the CCTS with her virus again, then you won't see me." The last time Ruby came to Beacon for the first time, she had fawned over the various weapons the other students had, eventually getting shut down by her own cloak and Yang.

Crescent Rose Mk. II could outstripe all of them in terms of firepower, except for maybe Magnhild.

"I'm pretty sure it's meant to be the other way around. You're supposed to enjoy the dance, not spend it foiling Cinder's plans."

"It'll be a kindness for her since Summer won't be able to let loose while in the CCTS, and Ruby might have mercy on her." Ruby stopped in front of the statue depicting two Hunters standing on a rock over a Grimm. When the sun was at its highest, only the Hunters would be illuminated, leaving the Grimm in the shadows.

"First you'd have to get to the point where you could face a Maiden in combat." Weiss readjusted her pack, Myrtenaster pressing against her hip awkwardly. The weight wasn't an issue with their two months of exercise and proper diet. "At this point, you'd be lucky to face off against Adam's Lieutenant."

The man didn't seem to have a name, simply Lt. No matter how many papers and documents Blake dug through, she could find nothing on him. She wasn't sure Adam even knew his name.

"If Blake gets her intelligence net spread out fast and far enough to reach Amber, then she'll be under our protection, and Cinder won't be able to reach her." Blake hadn't been idle during the two months on Patch either, pulling funds out of Weiss' trust fund at a ludicrous pace to buy informants.

Her greatest accomplishment had been ferreting one with the Council House, giving the team exclusive information which couldn't be muddied through hearsay and sabotage.

Most of the others were carefully chosen Faunus with loyalties stretching all the way to Menagerie. It wouldn't be long until Qrow noticed the formation of a rival network and began working through its ranks. She'd instructed them to leave him clues leading to Beacon along with a vague description of her.

"You three should scatter. It's time for Jaune to meet me." They followed her orders, leaving her alone in front of the statue, disappearing among the incoming and hopeful students.

Poor fools.

They cut imposing figures, with Weiss arranged snugly between the two, three familiar Auras among a crowd of multicoloured lights.

The students didn't fail to notice her association with Blake, Auras reacting, especially the Faunus who knew who Blake was and where she came from, whether it be her connection to the White Fang or to Menagerie.

Maybe Velvet and Coco wouldn't instantly judge her as her father this time around. They could surprise them nicely by faking Blake's marriage to Weiss. It'd raise havoc with the Fang, the SDC, and Menagerie.

"Hey...I'm Jaune." Ruby turned towards her incoming friend, taking his offered hand and shaking it. His Aura was a mess as he tried to maintain eye contact with her through the shades, fluctuating in every directions, a sign she took as nervousness.

"Ruby. You're the one who threw up on the ship." Whatever composure the boy had prior to meeting her vanished at her words. Summer remained silent in her head, and even Rei refused to make any noise, sitting by her alter's side. Neither of them would be a help for making friends. "Vomit Boy…"

A tiny Yang appeared in her mindscape, berating her to apologize for the insult, before running away in horror as Re'iyah gave chase.

"I'm sorry." Ruby said instantly before Jaune could say anything. "It's what my sister called you."

"Well, the name's Jaune Arc! Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue - ladies love it!" His bravado was suddenly back as they made their way slowly down the path into the school.

"Do they?" Ruby's tone resembled Vacuo's desert in the middle of summer during a dry heat.

"They will! Well, I-I hope they will. My mom always says that... Never mind."

They walked a short distance in silence. Weiss told her it was an important part in every conversation, but Jaune just seemed to fidget as he walked by her side.

"What weapons do you have?" Ruby finally asked after witnessing Jaune's Aura do the equivalent of fireworks and then die down as he probably thought she didn't want to talk to him anymore.

"Oh! I, uh…" He pulled out Crocea Mors and waved it about, her shells registering it as supremely sharp and warning her. "I got this sword, and I've got this shield too!" The metal on his arm expanded, revealing a hybrid of a heater and kite shield with his family's emblem on it. "What do you have?"

Ruby unlatched Crescent Rose and held it out to him with one hand, but the moment Jaune touched it, she released her hold, and the immense weight caused it to crash into the ground, pulling Jaune with it.

Her weapon already had dozens of scratches from her swinging it around to level the forest near their home on Patch.

Ruby watched his vague outline as he picked himself up and tried to lift her weapon, but no matter how much he flexed his muscles, or which angle he attack it, it refused to budge. Ruby hefted the weapon back, not showing a hint of struggle, and latched it back on.

"How did you… That thing weighs a ton, and you picked it up like it was nothing." Ruby said nothing, continuing her walk towards the school. "I guess you're stronger than you look. What kind of weapon is it?"

"It's a Portable Artillery Scythe, modified from its original form as a High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe. I modified it to give it longer range and penetration, but while also increasing its close combat abilities. It's primarily composed of Earth Dust infused titanium, but the scythe is made of carbon steel to lower its weight."

"Wait - You mean you _built_ that yourself?"

"Of course. The best weapons are handcrafted to suit the wielder's needs. The creation process helps forge a bond and some say helps you understand it better."

"Mine's just a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war." Jaune scratched the back of his head, embarrassed he didn't have the means or the money to throw around to forge expensive weaponry. Signal and Weiss were the only reasons she had finished the upgrades on time, but since Jaune never went to the school, he couldn't perform even the smallest altercations.

"Then you best treat it with care. No weapon, to my knowledge, has survived the eighty years in such great condition. Perhaps it'll reveal its secrets to you, one day." The part of the enthusiastic weapons expect still remained, eagerly devising increasingly violent and efficient modifications for her team's weapons, with Summer happily assisting.

Hmm.

Happy.

Was that what happy was?

 _ **I don't do happy.**_ She walked off, lost in an argument with her other half. Rei was at least happy as she tackled Summer, breaking up the cloud of goth and edginess above her. _**Let me have my moment!**_

"Hey! Where are you going?" He caught up quickly.

"The auditorium, where every incoming student is gathering for the initiation exam."

"Initiation exam?" Ruby felt his Aura disappear nearly entirely, fear overtaking him.

Re'iyah yipped happily and fed off the emotion.

* * *

Even amongst the crowds, the fiery presence of her sister was easy to find. The auditorium was packed to the brim with applicants, most coming from the intermediate Academies spread throughout Vale.

Of the 500 plus people there, Beacon would select less than thirty to teach.

Half of them would be eliminated during the initiation exams, leaving the rest of them to fight over their spots to earn their place among the elite.

"I have to go. I'll see you after the exam." Jaune sighed as Ruby left him. She felt Pyrrha stalking the boy and knew he'd be in good hands. It would've been creepy if they didn't know how they'd eventually turn out.

"How'd it go?" Yang had commandeered a corner of the large room, and Weiss had cordoned it off with her glyphs, giving the team some breathing room. More than once they heard complaints from others about her glyphs, but none were allowed past.

"I made my introductions. The creation of JNPR is up to those four now, and we can do nothing to influence it." Ruby could feel Ozpin's eyes on her, looking for any cracks through her mask to see his silver eyes, then traveling down to her left shoulder.

"At least this time you managed to avoid blowing a hole in the school's path." Weiss didn't bother looking up from her book, only flicking to the next page.

"Last time, you had twenty different luggages with a butler and a cart. How times change for an heiress." Everything Weiss cared now about was in one duffel bag by her side, most of which were clothes along with a few vials of Dust.

"I'm just lucky your sneeze didn't set off a chain reaction and send the both of us off the cliff. I wouldn't have to able to live down the shame."

"Not my fault most of them were filled with Dust." Weiss was quiet after that, conceding Ruby her victory.

Their attention was soon brought to the stage, where Ozpin stood before a podium with Glynda behind him. The man looked good for the several millennia year old Neo claimed him to be, though his Aura revealed a lifetime of regret, failure, knowledge, his bright silver core marred with crevasses of red, black, pink, green, and every other colour in the rainbow.

Strange.

She'd never again get to witness a rainbow, the typical embodiment of hope, without the help of a small creature deemed evil. Even if she could borrow Rei's eyes and placed them in her own skull for a while, they'd still be a terrifying red known to haunt weathered Hunters.

 _ **But you haven't tried to borrow her eyes in such a manner yet.**_ Summer turned in time to catch a flying Rei, planting the Grimm into the wood of the mindscape home. The Beowolf remained happy, wagging her tail and wiggling in every which way to escape. _**It'd certainly make my existence easier.**_

 _That's the point. She's meant to occupy your time and keep your tendencies at bay._ Rei slipped from Summer's grip and scurried away, playfully baiting her to give chase. _You'll get the initiation as a reward, but I will fight you for control again if you extend the time any further._

Summer had been getting increasingly vocal since the second time jump, and none of her teammates could explain why the change occurred, other than the sudden intrusion of Re'iyah. The link between the personalities had strengthened considerably as parts of Ruby leaked into Summer, and vice versa.

Beacon's psychological exam would reveal the extent of the damage done to them.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." The applicants whispered to each other about the Headmaster's dark and sordid opening speech. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Ozpin did deserve his reputation as the mysterious and deceitful Headmaster of Beacon with his words. They could only speculate about the true meaning he hide within, not knowing enough about him, but also being privy to a few of his more darker secrets.

According to Salem, knowledge wasn't one of his Relics, but the man employed Qrow to keep him always informed about the day-to-day activities of Vale's most prominent people along with keeping track of important locations.

They could also simply be looking too much into his words and take them at face value. Being smart and knowledgeable about the world meant nothing if they didn't have the strength and resolve to act on their knowledge.

Knowing the weak points on a Grimm meant nothing if you were too slow or too weak to attack it.

 _ **Like we REALLY need to know weak points with the beautiful being strapped to our back.**_ Ruby agreed with her, not deeming a response necessary. Summer had been extremely satisfied Crescent Rose had been returned to its former glory.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins." Glynda took the podium as Ozpin left, looking over to Ruby once more before he disappeared back to his office. "Be ready. You are dismissed."

The noise level of the auditorium instantly rose to a loud rumble as Glynda left, leaving several older students to dol out sleeping bags. The summer sun had rapidly dropped below the horizon without anyone noticing, and even if it was a little early, Ruby didn't look a full nights sleep in the face and say no.

"Was I ever as cryptic as Ozpin?" Ruby caught a flying sleeping bag out of the air, her shells registering the object as it neared her.

"Think less deceitful and mischievous, and more creepy and omnipotent. Your Aura alone kept your Hunters in line." Yang playfully batted her leader down with her own sleeping bag. Ruby cradled her head into the bag, looking ready to sleep. "You're supposed to fight back during pillow fights, you know."

"Not tonight. I'm going to enjoy my night's rest and not worry about having to have one of us stand guard." Ruby was in her bag, removing her backplate and stowing it with the rest of her gear. Looking over to her other two teammates, Yang was dismayed to find them already in their pajamas and reading from their preferred books, with tiny, softly glowing glyphs to give them light.

The three of them were lightly curled against each other, and Weiss patted the floor next to her, indicating it was for Yang.

She could only sigh and curse at Ruby's bluntness, but she obediently set her bag down and snuggled up to Weiss, drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Weiss managed to avoid Jaune's flirting by skirting far and wide around the school's lockers. Their weapons weren't stored there and they found no need to place their belongings elsewhere, Blake having taken the initiative and breaking into their room to place them there.

Sadly, her most recent acquisition would have to wait until the dead of night to retrieve, but it was thankfully a weekend where they could afford less sleep. Ozpin and Glynda enjoyed using the time to do paperwork before the hell of schooling started.

Pyrrha was so smitten with the boy, and it wasn't fair for her to compete with Weiss. No one could resist the lure of her white hair and blue eyes.

They were the first students to appear on Beacon's cliffs, with only Ozpin and Glynda beating them. They received only a nod of acknowledgement from Ruby's grandfather and a crisp morning's greeting from Glynda.

She needed to get laid, desperately, but her favourite boy toy was locked away in Atlas, dealing with the tedious work of initiating new recruits to his Academy. Weiss could beg him to take a vacation, allowing him to visit Glynda and her at Beacon.

There was always the Vytal Festival, but the event was an entire year away.

Slowly, the remainder of the applicants trickled in, filling up the remainder of the silver tiles.

Those who hadn't made any friends or connections had been politely asked to leave. The Hunters were social creatures built on the foundations of teamwork and family.

Blake was the rare exception to the rule, frequently going off on missions alone, but given her skill set and past, this wasn't any surprise.

Besides, as long as Weiss kept a glyph attached to her, she'd find her, even if dead.

Those who chose to avoid a good night's sleep, or sleep in, had already failed the first part of the entrance exam. Hunters worked the worst hours of the days, through the worst weather, and against the toughest humanity and Salem could throw at them.

More than half of the applicants had been eliminated by the tactifully timed exams; the sun only barely peeking over the canopy of the trees.

Pyrrha dragged a half-conscious Jaune, somehow managing to look both irritated at his morning habits and pleased she was holding his hand. They took two of the last few remaining pads, joining Ren and Nora.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin hid his growing smile behind his mug, but Ruby didn't need her eyes to know the man was enjoying every moment of this.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams'." Glynda paused, letting the tension build. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates...today."

Team RWBY shared only discreet knowing looks, already knowing exactly how the teammate process would look. Weiss was planted on their team's first launch pad for a reason after all.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Each of them could work well off against any other, but their original partners had long ago cemented Weiss' role as their second. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Nora devolved into a ball of self-righteousness, poking Ren over and over while he had to endure her stream of near nonsensical exclamations.

"After you've been partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest." Ozpin pointed his cane towards the Northern Sanus Mountain, which were unhelpfully situated directly east of the Academy. "You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path… or you **will** die."

Another half would drop, trusting in his help.

Another would die for not listening to his warning.

How he explained these deaths was a mystery to Ruby since recruitment had been cut off during her war and she hadn't needed to organized such elaborate tests.

"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will request that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately." They knew for certain the only factor determining their grades was whether they survived the gauntlet of Grimm gathered for them. Staying alive meant passing, while death meant failure. "Any questions?"

Jaune was the only one who raised his hand and tried to speak up, but the Headmaster ignored him, bidding everyone to take their positions on their pad.

Everyone struck a pose on their tile, with the majority of them being silly and designed to show off rather than mark the start of an exam with an 80% failure rate.

"Uh, sir? I've got, um… a question." Jaune completely missed the first few students being launched out into the air and over the forest as the platforms activated down the line. "So, this landing...strategy thing...Uh, what- what is it? You're like dropping us off or something?"

"No. You will be falling." Blake resisted the urge to throwing knife at their smiling Headmaster. He was enjoying this far too much, the hot chocolate only spurring him on. Juane continued to be oblivious as as more students got sent off.

"Oh, uh, I see… So, like, do you hand out parachutes for us?"

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy." Weiss finally managed to grab his attention with a loud shriek of joy as she was launched upwards.

Her flight interrupted near its precipice as she spawned a glyph and alighted. She remained patiently waiting, not worried at all about rushing into sure danger.

Ruby joined her shortly afterwards, impeding her own progress by channeling her Semblance and landing in a shower of rose petals. They cascaded over the edge of the glyph, dissolving into the morning light as the Aura dissipated.

Blake joined them next, halting her mid air progress by bouncing off a clone, landing besides Ruby and waiting for her own partner. The clone followed the path of Ruby's petals, breaking apart into iridescent Aura.

Yang did not however have a method of stopping her momentum, so she sailed directly over the glyph, catching Gambol Shroud in mid air to pull her Faunus partner behind her with great force. She got caught by another glyph where the rest of her team joined her, leaving the cliffs as Ruby wrapped her Semblance around them.

"Uhh-HHHHH!" Jaune was sent flying, Ozpin getting tired of his questions and manually thumbing the release button. He took a sip and pulled out his scroll, tracking his successor's team with a drone.

Unfortunately for him, he could do nothing but follow the trail of petals and slowly fading glyphs as the team outstripped his watchful eyes.

The combination of Weiss' glyphs and Ruby's acceleration allowed them to travel swiftly across the trees, avoiding any of the bramble and undergrowth as they passed duos with haste.

The small Grimm could be dealt by the Hunters who needed the training, not four seasoned veterans.

A stone temple set on the top of cliffs leading into a bottomless crevasse entered their field of vision and the four of them landed. As from memory, the temple was broken and decrepit, columns and stonework lying scattered about the main hall and along the grass outside.

In the middle, on a short platform, were Ozpin's personal favorite choice of relics, a set of gold and black chess pieces. They didn't miss the symbolism of the color choices, with Ozpin as the gold, and Salem as the black.

Summer picked up both of the golden knights, placing them securely within her leg pouch, a dire addition she had added near instantly after realizing her usual one wasn't there after the time jump.

"We could always run back and report a successful mission, but Ruby is telling me to stick around and test out Crescent Rose, and I'm inclined to agree."

The process of transitioning between alters had been done seamlessly in the air, Ruby taking a back seat to cuddle with Rei while Summer went out to play.

"How're you holding up? Yang tapped one of the remaining standing columns and it crumbled under the weight of her Semblance, leaving her personal mark on the landscape.

"Ruby is busy playing with Rei, and as insufferable as that _thing_ is, its slowly growing on me." Summer inspected her fingernails, feeling her own flesh for the first time in months. "I'm just spending the time getting used to inhibiting body. I suppose with daily care, it'll eventually be worthy."

It was only slightly weird for the team to see their leader referring to herself in such a way.

"Shouldn't Nora be arriving sometime soon on the back of an Ursa?" On Weiss' cue, several crashing noises resounded out of the forest from across the clearing. Said Ursa was frothing at its mouth as it tried to buck off its orangette rider, and a pink blast to the back of its neck put it out of its suffering.

"Awwww… you broke it." She smashed its head apart with Magnhild for good measure, and then dashed towards the temple, leaving a panting Ren to chase after her. She politely barreled around them on her quest to the podium.

"Oooohh…" She grabbed the golden rook, and an animation of stars and hammers on a pink background, accompanied with a fanfare, played as she danced and sung with the chess piece. "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"

"You guys can see this too, right?" Yang whispered to her team, ducking out of the way of a rogue star.

"See it? I can _taste_ it." Summer grabbed one of the flying hammers and chucked it right back at its progenitor. It collided with Nora with a loud crash, ending the horrifying display of colours. "We will never speak of what we saw here today, agreed?"

Ren finally arrived at the temple as her team mutely nodded, giving them a small nod of greeting as he panted from exhaustion at having to keep pace with the energetic Nora.

A screech sounded out from across the clearing, Pyrrha dodging the claws of a Death Stalker with fantastic acrobatic skill. The young trees were no impediment for it as it uprooted them and tossed them to the side in its chase.

"I remember this being more chaotic the first time this happened." Yang sweatdropped as she watched Jaune run away from the Grimm while flailing his arms, forgetting he had a weapon to use.

"Last time I was dangling from a Nevermore because Ruby left me to suffer." Weiss looked up briefly from her book to see Pyrrha pulling Jaune out of certain death, flattening the boy onto the ground. She couldn't see what Pyrrha saw in him, with his blonde hair being his only redeemable quality.

"She did say 'jump'. You refused to listen." Weiss grumbled discontently, but said nothing in reply.

Pyrrha threw her disoriented partner at the feet of the six Hunters watching them, quickly making her way to them once she caused the Stalker to get caught within a group of thick trees.

"Hello." Pyrrha greeted them, brushing by them and snagging the other golden rook from the podium. RWBY were satisfied JNPR had been formed without any effort on their part. The Stalker ripped through its temporary prison, its beady eyes zeroing in on the nimble redhead. "Would any of you like to help?"

"The Stalker is your test. Our test is currently behind us." Since their arrival at the clearing, Yang had been constantly flaring her Aura to attract the strongest Grimm in the area.

"What test-?" Her words were lost as a Nevermore shot out of the canyon, buffeting the clearing with gale force winds. Several of its feather were sent screeching through the sky towards the offending Aura which woke it, but a glyph blocked any threat with ease.

With their relics safely secured, RWBY blasted off from the temple, eager to test the full capabilities of Ruby's upgraded scythe.

While the rest of her team had their weapons fully deployed, Crescent Rose remained in its holster.

They were vaguely aware of Nora smashing a ancient stone bridge below them.

Disengaging from her team, Summer channeled her Semblance directly vertical, bouncing off two walls of glyphs as she ascended above the Nevermore. The Grimm's attention was brought away from her as Yang smashed into its chest, causing it to lose a good bit of altitude, leaping away while channeling a blast through her feet. Blake, meanwhile, attacked its left wing, drawing it deeper into the canyon it called home.

Weiss simply watched her teammates cause carnage, paying attention only to Summer until she was satisfied with her perch and started her freefall, her Semblance greatly slowing her down.

Yang left Blake to her devices as a glyph pushed her away from the Grimm, a signal from Weiss to leave as Summer drew upon her Aura and charged Crescent Rose.

A bowl of glyphs helped Blake stay aloft and continue to distract the Grimm as Weiss channeled Yang's Aura into them. Several more layers of glyphs joined them as Weiss layered them around the flying Grimm with Blake continuing to weaken its flight, cutting across vital muscles with surgical precision.

Even among the din of battle, Blake could hear Summer call out the first syllable of her attack, and she left as quickly as she could, leaving a clone to do her job for her. The Grimm instantly massacred the Semblance creation and it looked around for its next victim, but by then, it was far too late.

"Smite, _**Crescent**_ **Rose**." The clouds parted from the shockwave, shaking the trees and land around them. The very air burnt from the sheer Aura traveling through the weapon, sparks of lightning cracking across the sky. A lance of pure Aura followed its kinetic counterpart as it ripped through the glyphs positioned in front of Crescent Rose's barrel, rocketing down towards the Grimm.

Rei whined pitifully in her head as each broken glyph enlarged and sped up the lance until it eventually reached the Nevermore.

To its credit, the Grimm managed to avoid the initial attack, only singing its wings as it prepared to fly up and spear the offending Hunter.

It didn't matter as the lance hit Weiss' bottom glyphs, dissipating along and empowering them far beyond their capacity. The landscape detonated into violent oranges and yellows, the shockwave ripping the creature apart before the inferno could roast it.

Two months of training had left them little time to focus on any larger or more accurate displays of Aura, the combination eating up all of Yang's core and pushing Weiss to the limit.

They had had to relearn control over the most basic functions of their Aura and Semblances: Yang's destructive and self-replicating property and Weiss' control surfaces.

Only their creativity could hold them back.

* * *

"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark." The four mentioned boys lined up for the applauding audience to see. "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by… Cardin Winchester!"

The audience gave one more wave of ovation, while four more students walked up to the stage to take their places in front of the Headmaster as their faces fill the screen.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work as Team JNPR." Amid the clapping, Nora laughs and gives Ren a hug, booping him on the nose for good measure. "Led by… Jaune Arc."

"Huh? L-Led by…" Jaune stumbled over his words.

"Congratulations, young man." A grinning Pyrrha gave him a friendly shoulder bump, but her partner falls on his ass in front of a laughing crowd.

"And finally: Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao-Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY, led by... Ruby Rose." The four of them gave no outward appearance of joy, stoically accepting their placement without any fanfare.

"Looks like things are shaping up to be an interesting year." Ruby's eyes never left her Headmaster, and he desperately wondered why she was hiding her lineage from him.

* * *

 **AN:** Hope you enjoyed the chapter and leave feedback!


	14. Tests

Chapter Fourteen

* * *

 **Tests**

* * *

Ruby knew why the initiation exams were so specifically scheduled just before a weekend.

It not only allowed Ozpin and Glynda to enjoy the last of the summer, but also forced the accepted students to use their weekend going through rigorous mental and physical evaluations.

Ozpin had kindly given them the first slot, dropping their appointment on their laps at precisely 0500, giving them an hour to get ready and present themselves to Monty Memorial. They had to abandon their planned morning workout until they finished, much to Yang's dismay.

So, while the poor schmuck assigned as their mental health evaluator picked and prodded Yang's brain, she got to be examined by the CT machine.

Her request for a prescription of estradiol valerate and progestin had raised quite a few eyebrows from the head nurse, first off, since those were two specific drugs used for hormone replacement therapy, and second, since her age meant her ovaries were in their prime and she didn't need the therapy.

It had taken the combined persuasive abilities of her team to convince them to grant her a screening, and the bet of ten Lien if the radiologist could point out her ovaries on the screen. That part had mostly been in good spirit, but the attending moved quickly to inject the contrast and fire up the machine, wasting no time in shooing Yang away for her appointment, and shooing Weiss and Blake into the shielded viewing room.

"Should I be asking why you're convinced your leader needs this exam?" Dr. House's voice echoed about the enclosed chamber she was nestled in. "By your age, she should be in the middle of puberty, ruling out a congenital defect or it'd be in her file, leaving ovarian failure, or a disorder of the thyroid or pituitary gland as the most common causes of low estrogen. Not, as you're all pointing out, missing ovaries."

"The only reason she's in there in the first place is because you want to win ten Lien. There are other tests for low estrogen levels." Chase leaned back in his seat as image after image poured onto the monitor.

"What's wrong with wanting earn ten Lien?" House twiddled with the sucker in his mouth. "Besides, it's an excuse to play with the multi-million Lien machine for the sake of settling a ridiculous bet."

"Because we know what the problem is, but she can't get her treatment without this hospital first confirming there is a problem." Weiss answered, casually sitting against the back wall with Blake a content pile of purring Faunus in her lap.

"You refuse to answer why you know it's a problem, but you know what the problem is." House spun around in his chair multiple times, coming to a stop to face his two guests. "So what happened? Botched training accident involving precise surgery? A two-bit hack in a back alley with a hacksaw offering an oophorectomy?"

"Sometime like that." Weiss responded, taking care to brush gently across Blake's ears. House's demeanor shifting into pensiveness combined with agitation, his default for attacking complicated mysteries.

"She's a healthy fifteen year old girl with no indication..." The computer beeped loudly at his statement and displayed a monochrome cross section of Ruby's pelvis. There were the usual two white blobs of pelvic bone, along with snippets of the intestine and a full image of the uterus, but nowhere among the gray blobs could they find an inkling of two ovaries. There were no cysts, no partial or deformed ones; they just simply weren't there. "But that's impossible."

"Told ya."

"Yeah, yeah." House waved her comments aside, exploding the cross section to look more closely. "There's no scarring, but the fallopian tubes look to be intact. This was either a congenital defect only affecting the ovaries, or a surgeon with far more experience than Chase here removed them."

Salem may not be a surgeon, but playing with a mortal's body was the equivalent of a toddler playing with putty. It certainly explained the ease of implanting the gem and carving those lines on her back.

"There's no medical reason other than an oophorectomy. There's no defect, no cancer. The only cure for her now is hormone replacement therapy."

"And you won't tell me when she had this supposed oophorectomy, and you're one hundred perfect sure this wasn't caused by some rare paraneoplastic syndrome specifically attacking the ovaries?" House wiggled the cross sections, browsing the different slices and angles to see if they weren't awkwardly hidden from him behind some tissue or fat deposit.

"You're smart enough to figure out she'd already be on HRT if this wasn't a recent surgery. The only reason she's going through this is because it's all covered as a Hunter of Beacon, but if you need to list when it was done, write down 28/6 of this year."

"All of you Hunters are cagey, never willing to tell me all the details until one of you is dying." House sighed and scribbled down the numbers she told him. "When she eventually starts dying because of the random virus or cancer you refuse to tell me about, you owe me a new flat screen. A nothing cut rate since you're a Schnee and can afford it."

"I'll remodel your office if she does."

"Good." House pulled out his scrip pad, jotted down some barely legible words, and tore it off, giving it to Weiss. "You can go pick it up anywhere you like, but we have a pharmacy somewhere in this building. Can never remember where. Chase, pay the girl."

He left before Chase could argue, making a swift exit despite his usage of a cane. He made a weird face to his fellow, pressed a button on the CT machine, and left through the swinging doors, making himself scarce.

"Keep the money. We just wanted to make sure she got what she needed." Weiss tried to get Blake off of her lap, but several nudges didn't do anything to wake the girl from her stupor. It wasn't until Ruby walked into the room she perked up, pupils wide and dilated, hair looking quite messy from Weiss' ministrations.

"Thanks." Chase stowed his wallet. "And the pharmacy is near the front desk. You can't miss it." He left after his words, chasing down his boss to cut his cane in twain.

"She could've gone for her physical, not spent the time in your lap getting attention." Blake stared her leader down, the picture of satisfaction. It was a futile effort as Ruby couldn't see the stare, but she got the point across just the same. Blake was a glutton for tactile pleasure, always was and always will be. "Your Aura feels like you've just had a good shag by the way."

Understanding she wasn't going to get anything from her quiet wife, Ruby lead to two out of the large room, picking up their variety of weapons and leg pouches from a table, the metal not being allowed in the room. Ruby slid her sunglasses back on, having kept her eyes closed throughout the procedure and relying on her shells. Weiss gently guided her to the pharmacy, Ruby not being able to read as the words didn't raise any bumps or register on her shells.

She would've had to learn braille if she didn't have Rei to lend her her eyes. Taking notes in class and reading from the board would be a challenge she'd have to overcome at a later point. Her team would've to take notes for her to read later in the privacy of their room.

How the pharmacist could read the chicken scratch House counted as words was a mystery Weiss would never solve. She could make out a vague 'e' shaped letter, and maybe a 'v' along with a 'p' but everything else was lost in translation.

They got two little innocuous boxes which Ruby pocketed into her leg pouch, and Weiss lead them further into the hospital to keep with Ozpin's appointments. Ruby had some semblance of mercy for the therapist, letting Weiss go ahead, while Blake and her funneled into separate rooms for their physicals.

She had no doubt Blake would pass with flying colors, Yang brutally whipping the four of them back into shape over the last two months.

"Miss Rose?" Ruby slightly frowned at her name. Her birth certificate must've been sealed under Qrow's and Ozpin's request. She knew the codes to unlock the seal, but what was the point. It would do nothing for her own personal identity and would strain Tai's and Qrow's relationship. "I'll be your doctor today for your evaluation. You call me Cameron or Allison if you prefer."

It was Cameron's turn to frown as her patient only nodded. "You just came out of an CT exam confirming your lack of ovaries, and were given prescriptions for both estradiol valerate and progestin. Is that correct?"

"Yes." Cameron wrote down the response, shivering as the monotone washed over her, her instincts screaming for her to leave the room and have Foreman do the exam, but duty kept firmly in place. "Can you confirm your full name for me?"

"Ruby Rose, born 12/21/66, height 5'7", weight 61 kg." She rattled off a series of memorized numbers, Cameron noting and checking each one as a quality control check before she had to ask.

"Any alcohol or drugs I should know about?" She responded with a negative, wondering if Yang's Aura could count as one. It left its user high on Aura, making them feel happy, had a slightly addicted feeling, and could be used as an aphrodisiac given an incentive.

"Good, but regardless, I'm required to draw blood and have it tested for them, along with tests for glucose, proteins, pregnancy, and other health indicators. Though, you don't have to worry about the pregnancy part." Cameron pulled a cart from the side and bid Ruby to take a seat. "So what makes a young girl like you realize she doesn't ever want kids? I saw the report."

"I have my reasons Doctor." The rest of the blood draw was done in silence, her blood pressure and pulse rate noted down by the shaken Cameron. There was nothing behind that voice and Ruby held nothing back, not deeming it necessary to hide from her. "Any blood samples you take are to be destroyed."

"Of course. Alright, since that's all done we can move on to vision testing and color perception. You're going to be asked to read out a series of letters on the wall from a set distance and then after, you'll be asked to read a number from a colored plate."

"Do you have specific tests for the blind?" Ruby took her shades off, clipping them to her tee. Her dead eyes fought against Cameron's jade green, slowly pulling the life from them into the abyss. Fortunately, Cameron's intrigue fought right back and she strode forward, pulling out her penlight.

Ruby remained still as she examined her eyes, poking lightly underneath the skin and flicking the light across her pupils, testing them to see if something responded. The black marbles remained quiet under her tests, revealing nothing. There was no solid distinction between the sclera, iris, and pupil, just a seamless mass of black.

"Umm...how long have you been blind?" Cameron quickly rechecked Ruby's documents, the sounds of rustling paper filling the room. "There's nothing in your records."

"Because I've managed to keep it a secret from everyone except my team, and it'll continue to remain one. As it pertains to my duties as a Hunter, it'll be listed down in my hospital profile, but under no terms will my disability be listed in my public documents." Cameron dutifully followed along, making sure it'd be kept away from prying eyes. Monty prided itself with confidentiality, knowing information of the Hunters needed to be protected.

"Since you passed the entrance exams, I assume you manage to visualize the world in a different way. Your disability will remain hidden at your discretion as long as you can show competency in identifying a series of objects around the room."

"I can tell where you are from the feel of your Aura. I can tell the room is approximately four by three meters. I can tell the contents of the cart by your side include a number of documents pertaining to me, along with seven vials of my blood. Your hair is styled into a high bun, you wear your stethoscope around your neck, and your identification is clipped to the lower right pocket of your lab coat, though I'm unable to read it."

Cameron was dealing better with her voice, the shivers and sense of oncoming dread abating the more and more she learned.

"You identify by Aura pulses then, or some variation of them." She noted it down, checking off the box for visual competence, but still marking the box for a disability. Only Ozpin, Qrow, and Glynda would've access to the document, and it wasn't as if she was deliberately hiding, she just wasn't informing them of the change. "You realize your superiors will be notified as soon as an you're assigned an official mission?"

Ruby nodded, having to accept the fact. It wasn't the easiest secret to hide, and she could feel the potential clusterfuck brewing if Qrow, Tai, or Ozpin learned of it. The last's reaction would likely be the most surprising, knowing her eyes were fragments of his own Aura, and nothing of lower power could remove them.

Or her consent.

She gave it a few hours before he found out and called her to his office.

"Your last test with me will be an ear examination, before I send you off for your psych eval." She pulled over another machine with dozens of knobs and sliders. "You'll signal me with a raised finger for each sound you hear, starting with your left, then right, then both at the same time throughout a range of frequencies."

Ruby placed the offered headset on and the sound of the climate control went away, replaced with quiet. The first sound was incredible low in her left ear, but she could hear it and she raised a finger. The same sound replayed a few seconds later, confirming she had indeed heard a sound and wasn't faking. The process continued, the pitch of the bleep rising in frequency, before the sound switched over to her right and it repeated. It was repeated another time with both ears, Ruby catching every note.

"I suppose it's only natural your hearing becomes more sensitive with the lack of sight." Ruby handed her the headphones back. "You weren't augmenting your hearing with Aura at all, were you?"

Ruby again shook her head.

"Other than the super sensitive hearing, and lack of sight, you get a clean bill of health. Please let me know if anything changes in the near future, or before your next examination, and I can update your documents." Cameron stamped something on her papers and she filed them into a folder, presumably with her name on it, and handed it over. "You can go through that door where my colleague will administer your psych eval."

"Thank you." Ruby placed her glasses back on, protecting Cameron from the further effects, the temperature of the room rising as she left.

"Hello Miss Rose. I'm Dr. Angela Ziegler. Please have a seat." The blonde doctor with a foreign accent bade her towards the seat across, taking the offered documents. She briefly looked over the top sheet, skimming the most important parts before setting the folder aside. "You have a rather interesting history and file, at a glance."

"I'm sure you're disappointed you're not psychoanalyzing the former White Fang terrorist in the room next me." Ruby blandly stated, reclining into the comfy loveseat, the soft leather molding against her form. It was meant to lower any patient's guard.

"Perhaps, but we're here to talk about you, not her." Angela's smile would've been disarming if Ruby could see it.

Actually, her entire body would've been disarming if she could see it. Her hair was nicely styled into a high ponytail, her features were high and angular, her clothes rather tight fitting, and her Aura was warm and comforting, not at all different from Yang's.

They were certainly well versed at this hospital, and Summer loved them for it. They have kept numerous grievously injured Hunters alive during their first war and had ferreted out spies at Blake's behest, delving deep into the mind's of potential traitors.

 _ **You're going to fail.**_ The demon within her whispered, Re'iyah sitting next to her peacefully, a stark contrast to their usual relationship.

Ruby had no doubt.

* * *

"Did you leave your therapist sane when you were done?" Ruby was apparently the last of her team to finish her exams, the three of them sitting against the wall and waiting for her. The question came from Yang.

"She was definitely shocked with some of my answers from the way her Aura reacted, but she's a professional, so I'm sure she'll deal with it."

 _ **I'm still convinced we should've revealed our darkest secrets and left her comatose.**_

Yes, because telling her she had an alter ego, who once massacred thousands, if not millions, of White Fang members and Atlesian soldiers, was a better idea than answering those oddly specific questions about funerals.

What a grand idea.

 _ **You still failed. It was just a matter of how badly you failed.**_ Ruby closed off the link with her, leaving Summer to her devices. She couldn't help but notice Re'iyah was ever so slightly larger than before, perhaps a few centimeters in length and height, yet she remained just as docile, save for her constant surprise attack and playful gnawing.

Something to check on when they were back in the privacy of their room.

"Then it's a good thing I managed to finish my report for when Ozpin calls you into her office later today." Weiss took Ruby's offered hand, getting pulled to standing.

"If he remembered half as much as he meddled, then we wouldn't have a problem." Ruby remarked, her team neatly filing behind her as they left the hospital and headed through the district towards the air ferry. Their documents were now in the hands of an orderly, who'd shortly file them properly and send them to Ozpin for final review and decision.

"We'll follow your lead, but I don't see how you'll explain your failed psych test, or your lack of eyes." Weiss spoke for the rest of the team, Blake and Yang nodding with agreement. "He has every right to deny your placement at Beacon, and with no explanation, you'll be removed and sent home."

"Summer will throw a fit, I know." Pulling her from her environment of protecting her Hunters would drive Summer either insane or into a depression, and none of them wanted an incapacitated High Commander to rely on.

"Yes, and we'll follow you back to Patch and have to wage a crusade against the White Fang and Cinder alone, without the help of Beacon's resources, along with lacking any credibility. It would destroy my future prospects as CEO, and destroy Blake's standing in Menagerie."

"I couldn't escape the test. I could only answer it to the best of Ruby's abilities. Summer whispered her own answers to the question, but lets hope you crafted me well enough to slip under the radar."

It was still relatively early when the ferry dropped them off at the Beacon pads. The bright sun was only barely full circle above the tree line, casting long shadows down the cliffs leading down into the lake. The CCTS tower blocked its direct warmth, but the morning chill faded nevertheless, bowing to its strength.

A few teams milled about the outer perimeter of the school, all of the older teams with at least a couple years under their belts already, used to the harsh conditions Beacon instilled on its students. They were the only first years moving about, having to wake up as a necessity.

Pyrrha wasn't up and about for whatever reason, but they'd be sure to change that soon enough. Summer wasn't going to risk JNPR being led by a weak and spineless Jaune who couldn't do anything until his Pyrrha died.

"Detention on the first day anyone?" Ruby stepped aside from JNPR's door, tilting her head at it to indicate Yang to take point. The juggernaut planted her foot down, a glyph keeping her anchored, while she sent her other foot into the wood near the lock.

 _ **You know, you could do some personal 'training' with Blake.**_ Summer whispered as the door frame splintered and the door was sent careening harshly into the wall, the hinges barely able to hold on. _**Or Weiss, or Yang. Preferably with all of them.**_

 _I wasn't aware you had a sex drive._ Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora instantly shot away, reaching for their weapons in their sleepy haze, instincts flipping the safeties and leveling them at the noise. Their leader raised his head up, eyes still shut, and went straight back to bed. _What's changed?_

 _ **You've infected me. This annoying Grimm is causing this, I know it.**_ Re'iyah stared up at Summer with her impossibly cute puppy eyes, flattening her ears entirely and standing against her thigh. _**It'd almost be bearable if it was larger.**_

Rei exploded into a massive blast of black smoke, causing Summer to hack out the infiltrant and sprint away, Crescent Rose materializing in her hands. The mist tarried across the bleak landscape, seeping along while a form coalesced within.

Summer found herself having to stare up at a pair of large, glowing eyes as the smoke cleared, being sucked into Rei's form.

 _ **Oh shiiiiiii-**_ Was all Ruby heard as the tank sized wolf gave chase, leaping after Summer with playful bounds, tongue lolling out in joy.

 _Interesting._ Ruby left her mindscape behind, returning back to witness Yang holding up Jaune by an ankle and vigorously shaking him. She needed a moment to realized he was in fact upside-down and not in fact, the right way up.

What was more interesting was the bleed of personalities between Summer and Ruby. As much as Summer was the perfect Huntress in every sense of the word, she distinctively lacked any notion of banter or sex drive. They were two characteristics added to Ruby to round her out.

It wasn't an immediate call for panic. Ruby was just a severely mellowed out version of Summer in the first place, acting as a barrier against her more violent and brutal tendencies. It wasn't the best example of dissociative identity disorder as both of the alters were relatively sane and had some degree of control over the other.

Summer enjoyed being a Hunter at her core, one of the few activities able to draw emotion from her, but she was a terrible leader and a worse beaurocrat, a trait the rest of her team had pounded into Ruby to make up for the other's failure.

Contingency:Prune would have to be updated if this merging continued, and neither alter was sure how their team would react.

* * *

Ozpin stared at the four psychological evaluations, separating them into their own personal screens and staring at the constructed profiles.

Team RWBY was an anomaly.

He didn't quite know, or care, how exactly Monty performed the evaluations, but he knew there were several results, and they were usually entirely accurate from the hour or two they spent pelting the students with questions.

All four of them had received recommendations for bi-monthly therapy sessions at Monty, ranging through reasons of excessive desire for violence to complete apathy for anyone they deemed as enemies to them, or to Vale.

It couldn't be random coincidence their answers to certain questions were nearly entirely similar, such as the question dealing with their response to an immediate and potentially large threat to one of Vale's border districts.

They had answered correctly when the threat was Grimm-based, but they had given the same answer when the question changed to an unidentified human threat with large weapon caches and considerable population.

Their answers were frighteningly similar and explicite, with only a few words misplaced or shifted to indicate their responses weren't copy and pasted.

Send Blake into their base under to cover of darkness to take advantage of her Faunus heritage, and have her _execute_ any commanding officers. He had to double take at the same four words used across the girls' transcripts.

Given an all clear, the other three members would rain havoc on the remaining members within the base, making full use of Yang's volatile Aura, Weiss' control of her glyphs, and Ruby's speed to cut _every_ _ **single**_ person down.

Each of them had added on caveats they'd have to confirm such reported threats in the first place, and change the attack time if there were Faunus, but none of them had strayed from their answers.

When asked to explain why she, Ruby, believed such a decisive strike was necessary as team leader, she had stated verbatim 'that they had chosen to harm innocent lives with their misguided goals, and their lives were forfeit under her abilities and prerogative to protect and serve'.

Her three teammates had echoed something similar, stating they would follow their leader _if_ they agreed with her reasoning and their assessment of the threat.

It was far from the duties the Hunters performed, such cases being handled by the military, and as much as he disliked them, they had their uses.

The only reason he wasn't tossing the four of them out and sending them to an asylum was because of the remarkable loyalty they had displayed to each other.

Usually, each student answered differently to where their loyalties lay. Some answered their loyalties were to their friends, some to their families, some were selfish and pointed to themselves, but most were unsure, having never been asked such a question.

Weiss, Blake, and Yang said their loyalties were solely to Ruby, and each therapist had taken to note their answers were quick and without hesitation. Whether their loyalty would continue to remain, and why they chose to follow Ruby, was yet to be seen.

Ruby's answer was the same, stating she followed her team's decisions, but after a moment of introspection, stated she defended the people of Vale, not Vale itself.

Angela had noted, with several red exclamation points, it seemed the girl was taking advice from somewhere else, but a cursory check revealed no devices in her ears. There was a smaller note asking about the distinction she put behind the people and the country, and her response filled him with pride as she correctly pointed out Vale was a people, and not a country.

His larger worry remained with his potential successor as she'd failed to answer a few key questions her teammates had successfully passed.

The girl was a fully blown psychopath, something Tai and Qrow had completely failed to advise him of, leading him to believe they weren't aware of her condition.

A small blip on his screen popped up, notifying him he had received a direct message from one of his students, and he nearly swiped it away until he noticed the sender.

One, Weiss Schnee, using Ruby's codes to contact him.

Ruby hadn't yet received such a privilege, so how she managed to do so was another mystery on the ever growing pile he was going to cordon off his desk for. Maybe he'd have to move some of his cocoa from his hanger if his desk became inadequate.

That was blasphemy in itself, but allowing a potential danger to roam about his school wasn't high on his list as Commander of Beacon.

Everything to do with Ruby and her team was nothing but potential at this point and it frustrated him beyond his experience. He'd be foolish to allow her to disappear from his sight, having witnessed the power she wielded on the battlefield, and commanded as her team worked flawlessly with her.

He put the psych evals aside for now, pulling up the message. It's subject declared her team was aware of their assessments, and were further aware of their leader's condition, quite blatantly referring to it as psychosis. The attached report was actually a series of reports from the three of them, detailing the last two months exquisitely.

The same question from his first meeting with her echoed in his head.

 _Ruby Rose… who are you?_

* * *

 **AN:** If you haven't yet noticed, I had to re-upload Chapter 13 since the formatting was screwed up a little bit. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	15. Impasse

Chapter Fifteen

* * *

 **Impasse**

* * *

"It's been a week." Yang noted, basking in the heat of the sun as it streamed in through the open window, the morning breeze causing the curtains the dance and shift sunlight across the room.

Somehow, throughout the night, Ruby had managed to subconsciously disentangle from Blake's death grip and move over to the foot of their monstrous bed, curling protectively around her team's lower halves, protecting them from any perceived harm coming from the door.

The ever docile Re'iyah was nestled in Blake's arm, having been spawned some time after Ruby abandoned her wife. Her eyes were closed under Blake's care, a useless pile of coalesced wisps. Blake's hand threaded through the shadows, the fur parting around her fingers, smoke thinning and thickening around the obstacles.

Blake was sure Rei would've been purring if she was some variant of a feline Grimm, but by the way she splayed out with her tongue out and tail wagging incessantly, she was living the life.

"I read the eval." Ruby stared up absently at the ceiling after untangling her limbs from her sisters'. Her vindictive streak forced her to run a finger along Weiss' sole, and then quickly rolled away from the flying kick.

Weiss was on her before her shields could register the moving Huntress. She was a comforting weight against her hips, her bare ass tantalizing and distracting the demon within as her shoulders got pinned down.

There was no point in struggling against her hold as it'd only turn the heiress on, and Weiss knew exactly what Ruby was doing by not reacting to her attacks. She wiggled while on top of Ruby, making sure to grind her body against her leader's.

Ruby looked more bothered before Weiss starting with her teasing.

Weiss released Ruby's shoulders and slumped down, sliding down her leader's young body to nuzzle into her neck. It was easy to forget Ruby was a worn and experienced adult when she was currently trapped within the body of teenager with artificially inserted hormones.

"What do you want from me?" Ruby asked, carding through the hair at the base of Weiss' head, splaying her fingers, and sending shivers coursing down her subordinate's spine. Weiss didn't reply, caught between planting soft kisses on Ruby's neck and making sure Ruby's wrists remained pinned on the floor.

"Mhmmmm." Ruby arched her neck back, giving Weiss a wider arc to assault. She gave a token resistance to Weiss' hold, barely putting in any effort to escape, only frustrating her in the process. A warm heat radiated from her chest when Weiss placed a kiss on each of her eyelids, her form of apology for her ongoing sacrifice. "Has Yang been starving you of cuddles?"

"No." Weiss' kisses became more possessive, leaving harsh purple bruises on the delicate skin. Ruby's heart beat a steady drum against Weiss' chest and her jugular vein pulsing deeply under her temptress' tactics. "But you've been neglecting me."

"I assume you mean I've sexually frustrated you?" Ruby felt Weiss interrupt her kissing to nod her head. She tried to move her hands, testing Weiss' hold on them, but got ten fingernails digging into her wrists for her trouble. The notion Ruby had somehow failed in any other aspect was absurd, earning her place in history as one of Remnant's great Hunters and team leaders.

"Is there any other way you annoy me?" Weiss replied, moving a hand away from acting as a bind to Ruby's midriff, bunching up her nightshirt and palming those delectable abs. She remembered their school year fondly, reminiscing about all the times she nagged on her to do her assignments or not slack off during class.

"Well, there's me in general." Ruby bucked Weiss wildly, but her hands remained bound down. It was a game now and she wasn't going to lose. "You're going to have to get off me. Glynda's at the door."

Okay, so maybe no games for Weiss.

Her shells were an assassin's worst nightmare, able to penetrate walls and floors, revealing areas beyond direct sightlines. Passing through the 5th and 6th dome was an Aura radiating a mix of dominatrix and closet pervert. She could vaguely make out the riding crop she kept attached to her waist.

Weiss frowned and rolled off, slumping back onto the mattress, only to be on the receiving end of Ruby's ire. Her head was violently wrested back as Ruby grabbed her hair and slammed a searing kiss on her lips, alternating nips between her upper and lower.

She was left sitting mute, hot and bothered, with ruffled hair, swollen lips, and a stupid smile on her face, completely missing Ruby had groped her breast and disheveled her shirt.

Ruby caught the sunglasses thrown her way by Blake, placing them over her eyes, and opened the door. "Good morning Professor."

This wasn't anywhere proper to how students usually opened the door on a weekend morning, most bleary eyed and glaring before realizing Beacon's deputy was in front of them.

Ruby may not have been able to see the twitch in Glynda's eyebrow, but her Aura was a rolling storm of irritation and prudish behavior.

She could only imagine how weird this scenario was for her, with Ruby's neck covered in hickeys, Weiss a blushing mess on the foot of their enormous bed, Yang casually snickering at the dilemma, and Blake struggling to contain a playful Rei under the duvet.

The fact all of them were only wearing comfy tees to sleep in and panties, making it seem they weren't wearing the latter, certainly didn't make the situation any better.

"I…" Any sentences or words Glynda had prepared before the door opened were completely forgotten as she looked over the strange scene. "Too early to deal with this and make sense. Headmaster Ozpin would like to see you in his office, alone, and I'm here to escort you."

"He could have sent a message." Ruby didn't even have to bark an order as a pair of sweats and her leg pouch soared towards her, courtesy of Weiss absentmindedly flicking the two items from the floor. "I must have been a been a naughty girl to warrant not only a meeting with the Headmaster a week into the school year, but also a _personal_ visit from you, Professor."

Ruby practically purred the last part out, relishing the reaction from Glynda's Aura, thankful for her past of nearly memorizing the various smut literature her teammates' favoured.

Yang snorted at the insinuation, the used shotgun cartridge bouncing off her noggin and rolling away. Weiss collapsed back onto the bed, a trail of blood flowing out of her nose, mad giggles erupting from her throat. Blake was far too busy to listen to Ruby, smacking away a wandering tail and making sure Rei stayed hidden.

Ruby ignored everything, put on the sweats, attached her leg pouch, and slid into a pair of slippers by the side of the door, gesturing for Glynda to lead the way.

Her pet Grimm growled through their connection, suddenly freed from her Mistralian cotton prison, launching into a pounce onto Yang.

Weiss certainly hadn't spared any expense on their bed, with even Yang struggling to get away from the sinful comfort, until Summer threw her into the glyph-reinforced door.

The familiar warmth of Vale's summer danced along her skin as they left the comfort of the climate controlled dorms, and the light breeze wove through her hair, carrying the scent of moss and green from the nearby forests.

It made her feel rather...alive.

Summer rather enjoyed torturing Glynda as they meandered down the main causeway, not inviting any conversation, making sure to walk behind her by just shy of a full step, keeping a marked distance. With how astute the Professor was, they was no way she wouldn't notice it.

She had the professor pegged since RWBY's food fight with JNPR. Stern and sharp, she didn't tolerate mischief or needless danger, but only because she overtly cared about her students and wanted to see them grow into the defenders of the world.

"You seem tired Professor." Glynda's step faltered at Ruby's comment. "You haven't commented on my attire, nor did you comment on what you saw in my room."

"Your personal relationships with your teammates aren't my concern, unless they interfere with your duties, and neither is how you sleep or with whom you sleep. Your team wouldn't be the first to find such arrangements convenient." The elevator up to the top of the CCTS opened and Glynda stepped aside, leaving Ruby to take the ride alone. "And the Headmaster isn't one to care on the weekends."

The familiar jingle played as the elevator carried Ruby up to the top, Summer dancing to the tune while practicing moves with Crescent Rose.

Headmaster didn't care probably because he was decked in outlandishly gray polka-dot pajamas with a plush emerald robe thrown over, his special mug steaming over with his luxurious cocoa.

Of course, to the blind Ruby, she could feel nothing more than the outlandishly bright silver Aura blaring against her vision shells.

Her nose lead her to the desk, where she grabbed his mug, and proceeded to make herself comfortable on top, watching him type some few more words before he swiped the documents aside and gave her his full attention.

"That's mine." Ruby pretended to not hear him, gulping down half of his supply.

"You woke me at sunrise, before breakfast, to prove you could order me around, imposing yourself as my superior without overtly stating the fact." Ruby swung around, crossing her legs into a pretzel. "Subtle."

"Most first years balk at being called into my office, but, you're not most first years, are you?" Ozpin accepted his mug back, drinking the rest. He could've been reading too much into the symbolism, but Ruby had marked herself as his equal.

"Most first years aren't fifteen, but I assume you're referring to the countless anomalies on my physical and psychological." Ruby folded her hands together, resting her chin on them, bringing her face close to Ozpin's.

"Quite." He plucked the shades from Ruby's nose, placing them aside, and stared at the endless pools of black. However much the voids tried to pull the life out of his warm brown eyes, they paled against the almighty origin of Creation and Choice. "Your profile listed you having silver eyes until a week ago."

"Obviously they made a mistake listing my eye color when I was born." Ruby replied dryly, sarcasm dripping from her voice. She could thank Weiss for that addition to her mask.

"Would've made sense if Monty was staffed irresponsibly, or if I wasn't one of the people present for your birth." Ozpin leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs. "I was having my yearly checkup when I heard the commotion and I felt it'd be rude if I wasn't in attendance."

Ruby had to suppress the urge to brain the idiot, courtesy of Yang's contribution.

"It's not every day the last of your lineage gives birth to the next generation, Grandpa." Ruby smirked, Ozpin's Aura dropping in intensity, disappearing among the din of grey and Aura.

"I may have white hair, but I'm not nearly old enough to be a grandfather." He deflected the question better than Weiss could, but never contradicted her assumption.

Ruby removed one of the many knives in her leg pouch, and without breaking eye contact, threw it at the couch. The illusion over it shattered, revealing Neo having caught the projectile with her toes, while upside-down, and somehow eating ice cream without having it get all over her.

"Really? Because according to the hellion you keep as a pet, you and your sister are several hundred millenia years old." Neo's Aura pulsed gently at the affectionate nickname. "Guess she was just mistaken."

"I don't have a sister." A hint of anger tinged his tone, his Aura barely reacting predictably.

"I'm sure Salem will be delighted to hear so." Ruby bridged from her seating position, landing in front of his desk, making slippers seem completely dignified. "C'mon Neo, let's go see if any bullies need their faces rearranged.

Neo followed suit, balancing her ice cream whilst flipping upside down from the couch, simultaneously throwing Ruby her knife back. With the same ease, Ruby caught and pocketed it, calling for the elevator down.

"Stop. I can't have two psychopaths egging each other on and causing mischief in my school." Ozpin stood from his desk, looking properly tired, making his way to the arrangement of couches Neo had abandoned. "Sit, and explain exactly how you know of my sister."

Neo took the couch offset away from the two, letting the two Commanders face off across the coffee table. Ruby was ever nonplussed about her confrontation, not worried in the slightest about the immortal in front of her.

"The first time I met her, I intended to martyr myself in an attempt to kill her." Ruby began, relishing the shock emanating from the Headmaster, and the sorrow coming from Neo. Rei must've been getting a nice feast. "Much to my team's happiness, I returned alive, having traded your gift away for her agreement to stop supplying Grimm to my enemies, and not killing me for your blunders."

Ozpin stewed, his Aura a whirlpool of conflict, hate, anger, and confusion.

"And why do you, a fifteen year old Hunter still in Beacon, have any quarrel with her?"

"Because at the time, I was the twenty year old High Commander of Beacon, seeking to end a potential war between Adam's White Fang, supported by Cinder Fall, supported by Salem, and Vale." Ozpin's frown deepened and his posture collapsed, his defeated form sinking into the plush cushions.

Ruby launched into her story, explaining the events of her first life, from her initial inception as High Commander after Qrow's death, her imprisonment at the hands of Salem, her order to annihilate Vacuo, to the destruction of Remnant at the fury of a scorned goddess' children.

Her second timeline was spoken of with kindness, her voice dropping low when she spoke of the younger Team RWBY her own team had to interact with, their plans to impose equality to the Faunus by crippling the SDC, and the bright white light which threw them back into their original bodies, five years to the past.

Neo handed Ozpin a bottle of chocolate liquor when Ruby finished her story, knowing the god far better than anyone else, and he took it without complaint, letting the alcohol soothe his conscience, even if Ruby secretly believed it had no effect.

"From what I've gathered, neither you, nor Salem remember either of the two timelines, yet Neo and my team do. A fact which continues to annoy Summer." Ozpin blinked back owlishly, wondering why Ruby was talking about her dead mother. "You don't think I escaped imprisonment unscathed, did you? Ruby is a mask, created and refined to blend in with society, keeping my alter ego at bay."

"Couldn't fix the monotone, could you?" Ozpin smiled benignly. "I'd love to meet this Summer."

He only received a cruel smile as a warning, his vision suddenly obscured by a rush of rose petals. It took him a moment to figure out he was lacking in air, Summer holding him by the throat, suspending him above the couch with her deceptive strength.

Neo pouted, not at his predicament, or Summer's apparent fun, but because her spoon was clinking against the bottom of her bowl, her ice cream having run out.

"You're a real piece of work." His world shifted as Summer threw him into the wall, the force behind it cracking the marble, creating an appeasing radial pattern. He rotated his neck around, loud cracks echoing about the office. "Not only do I now have abandonment issues because of your first fuck up, but then, you and your sister decide to fuck over my life, again!"

Summer goomba-stomped his ribs, a satisfying snap meaning she had successfully broken at least one. He cracked an eye open, the brown hue bleeding away to reveal a pure silver. A trail of blood trickled down his lower lip, but he still had a grin on his face.

"Oh yeah that felt good." Her pupils were widely dilated with a surge of adrenaline. "Get up. I know I didn't throw you that hard."

"You just assaulted your highest superior." He jumped up, wiping away the blood on his chin and straightening his clothes. "That's a court martialing."

"If that's what you consider assault then you haven't seen one of my team's sparring sessions." She was gone in another shower of rose petals, his open balcony door the only indicator how she left.

"Neo?" The girl perked her head up at the mention of her name. "I can't believe I'm asking this, but make sure she doesn't kill anyone."

Her look spoke volumes, asking whether or not he remembered exactly whomst he was speaking to.

"Just go." Her form shattered, leaving him alone in his office with an empty ice cream bowl, a cracked wall, and a liquor bottle.

It wouldn't be his first time handling a psychopath, and while she could've been weaving a tall tale, Neo's presence was enough to dissuade the notion.

Ruby was a bundle of secrets, much like her father.

He had a call to place, and had to plan a spontaneous sparring session for the first years, for absolutely no reason.

* * *

The next time Ruby saw the enigmatic Commander of Beacon was just before the sparring session.

It was so out of the blue, only a devious mastermind could have planned it in an attempt to gauge her strength and abilities. Such a person should've been feared across the planet for his cunning and strategic mind.

If such a person existed.

She should've brained him when she had had the chance.

At least then maybe she could've been in his or Glynda's office getting a punishment for her actions, but instead, she was forced to watch the first years struggle and flounder about in what they deemed were acceptable fighting styles.

So far, each first year Hunter faced another at random, with some opponents being partners or on the same team, but no one on her team had been chosen yet.

Very suspicious.

It wasn't a great surprise to see her own name, along with Blake's, flash up on the board after Cardin had demolished Jaune. The blonde leader had little to no idea how to properly wield a sword, let alone combo it with a shield.

Taking Crescent Rose off, she handed the gigantic weapon over to Yang for safekeeping, counting the dozens of knives hidden on her body and where they were located.

A few people wondered why she wasn't going to be sparring with her main weapon. Most of them hadn't seen the awesome destructive capabilities of the artillery-cannon, and Ozpin was sure it would've easily demolished the arena if she used it.

They each grabbed one of the sensors tossed their way and clipped in to their shirts, the board lighting up with their Aura levels. If only it could display how much was condensed into one little bar.

Ruby drew her two twin daggers in icepick grip, settling into a casual defensive stance, her shells exponentially multiplying with the Aura she channeled into them.

Blake took a more typical defensive stance, sinking low to the ground, ready to bound off in any direction Ruby could attack her, which was from any direction except the ground, her ludicrous acceleration allowing her to run circles around her slower opponents.

They remained motionless as a single glyph appeared between them and slowly fell. Their eyes expertly tracked the tiny snowflake, and the moment it touched the ground, the battlefield exploded into a shower of dirt, being propelled by Ruby's shockwave of movement.

Walls of glyphs snapped into existence, shielding the audience from the worst before shimmering into invisibility. Ozpin glanced over to the other two members of Team RWBY, seeing Weiss kneeling on the ground with with palms flat on the dirt, with Yang's hand on her shoulder. He could feel the transfer of Aura happening, and it was done so smoothly it couldn't have been their first time.

Blake had let Ruby close the distance, relying on her leader to engage swiftly and harshly. The first of Ruby's strike flew over her head, clipping a few strands of hair. Her second was caught by her other knife, the metal screeching as the two weapons struggled for dominance.

Ruby smirked, letting her grip on the clashing knife fall flat, knowing her vambrace would protect her arm. Even knowing it would happen, Blake was unable to react in time to the Semblance charged first flying into her cheek, taking it head on.

The crowd winced, but Ruby knew her wife too well to believe she had fallen for such a simple trick. The attacked clone fell apart into Earth dust, leaving only a dagger amidst the residue. A warning pinged from behind her, her dominant shoulder paying the price as Blake gouged a deep wound.

Ruby's reaction time had her turning into the stab, catching the knife cleanly and preventing a much worse injury. Continuing her turn, she caught Blake's arm and broke the elbow. As much as she wanted to believe the satisfying break was real, she attacked by reversing the spin and throwing Blake away from her.

It gave their audience a chance to see the damage Ruby had sustained, wincing collectively at the knife embedded in her shoulder. Blood ran thickly down her arm, several trails of crimson intertwining and cascading down the pale skin, dripping down to land at her feet.

The Blake she threw into the arena wall was revealed to again be a clone, bursting into a flower of fire. From the smokescreen materialized another Blake, and she was still unsure whether this was the real one, or it this was yet another clone and she was hidden somewhere else on the field.

Blake was hiding within Ruby's shells brilliantly. With the way they were designed, Ruby could only visualize anything passing through the shells, but as long as Blake remained equidistant, she was a ghost flying under Ruby's radar.

Pulses would do little to nothing, as the longer they traveled, the less they revealed, growing weaker, and in return sending weaker pulses or completely misreading information.

A glaring flaw, but nothing the average goon or Grimm could figure out in seconds.

"Sir?" Glynda poked him from her place next to him. He already knew she wanted to end the spar before it got any worse, having not seen the Aura meters move even slightly during the opening trade.

"Let it continue." Glynda bit her tongue and remained silent. She knew there were many reasons why a Hunter chose not to shield injuries and instead channel Aura into Semblance.

Ruby wrenched the knife out of her shoulder, a rush of liquid coating her arm further before her Aura sealed the wound with little more than a brief sizzle of burning flesh. Jaune looked ready to pass out when the scent hit him.

"You always did have a fetish for stabbing me." Ruby taunted, sliding her clean dagger away in favour of the bloodied one. A crushing presence began to seep across the arena, its epicenter being the young leader. It came slowly, but the very ground started to crack under the pressure she was releasing. Sharps winds danced around her form, a testament to her control over her Semblance, stirring up stray particles of dirt and her blood, trapping her in a cyclone of her own making. "You know just the way to excite me."

Blake answer was to cock her head and smile.

Ruby was on her within the blink of an eye, weapons clashing with their counterparts violently. The flying droplets of blood served enough of a distraction for Ruby to switch the pressure from a blade onto her vambrace, leaving the hand free to stab down into the exposed forearm of her opponent.

This one was not a clone, a spray of blood erupting from the arm. An artery along with a major muscle had almost definitely been nicked, disabling any further actions for at least a few seconds until her Aura rushed in to heal it.

It was all the time Ruby needed, slipping under the guard of Blake's second knife while switching her grip, and slamming her own knife into Blake's armpit, making sure to angle the strike away from any vital area, at worse, hitting the lung instead of the heart.

To the shock of almost everyone watching the two teammates try to kill each other, Blake's Aura meter dropped to zero, a loud alarm going off as the sensor attached to her body recognized death.

Glynda was frozen, staring at the scene of one of her student's death, unable to do anything. Jaune and his team were out of their seats, sprinting down onto the field, only to run into the wall of invisible glyph Weiss continued to maintain.

The only people seemingly not worried about Ruby killing her teammate were her two other teammates, Ozpin, who was drinking from his ever full cup, and Qrow, who was, for some reason, rapidly demolishing a bowl of ice cream.

If Glynda could logically process at the moment, she would've realized Qrow should've been somewhere in Vacuo, not not reacting to his apparently psychopathic niece.

Ruby didn't react, visibly, but the annoyingly loud klaxon was starting to annoy the restless Grimm within her, and a restless Rei meant a restless Summer, which in turn meant dealing with a ticked Summer at some point during the day.

She could've plugged her ears with Aura, but that would leave her bereft of another of her senses, leaving her with only her shells, touch, and smell. Shame she hadn't yet discovered how to use taste to her advantage in battle.

It was great in bed, on a completely unrelated note.

Blake loved to attack from behind, but a full and aggressive frontal assault was a rather shocking change to her usual tactics. Hiding between the three meter and two meter shell gave her enough of a jump on Ruby's reaction time to near effortlessly bypass her guard, launching past her and tying up her hand in one of her ribbons.

She pulled Ruby's stance apart, knocking her further from balance by sweeping her legs forward. In a last ditch effort, Ruby turned as she fell, striking out against the offending leg.

Her shells fell apart, Blake slamming the butt of Gambol harshly against her temple. She was unconscious before she hit the floor, collapsing with a proud smile.

Blake fell to her knee beside her leader, the severed muscle of her right calf screaming for relief. Thick streams of blood flowed freely down into her shoe, ruining her socks beyond salvation. She couldn't afford to stem the injury, all of her Aura being channeled into the knife still embedded under her right arm.

Her breathing turned ragged, her lung collapsing and filling with air and blood. The last thing she remembered was the comforting feeling of Yang's Aura rushing into her body, helping to smother the pain and relieve her own strained network.

They still had much ground to make up to return to glory.

Yang was happy to note, over the shouting of Glynda as she berated Ozpin for his recklessness of allowing such a fight to continue, that Pyrrha was busy handling Cardin over some sexist comment about weak women on the battlefield. He got a swift kick to his groin for his troubles, followed by Pyrrha slamming her shield over his head.

Much to Weiss' ire, Ruby would suffer from nothing more than a severe headache and possible nominal loss of movement in her right shoulder. Nothing a few hours of rest couldn't handle, if Weiss was feeling kind with helping with paperwork.

Aura truly was evolution's greatest gift to humanity. Ozpin would like to take credit for the hyper flexible energy permeating the smallest cells, but he was more of a crafter, not a maker, molding the existent material with a shard of himself into the expression of power that once had Salem herself walking the Earth to eradicate it.

Blake's Aura was doing it's best to heal the injury, but it couldn't deal with the knife, Weiss having to help. It was a rush job, the Aura instantly surging into the gap created to sear and seal the affected area. It couldn't, however, completely remove the already coagulated blood and re-inflate the lung.

Ozpin really should make the leg pouch a mandatory part of the uniform, inside and outside Beacon. It was insanely useful and looked far better than a fanny pack, and was less clunky than a backpack. Removing a syringe, she pulled the plunger out with her teeth while ripping Blake's top open.

She was thankfully wearing breast bindings, saving the male population from disastrous nosebleeds.

Placing a needle on the syringe, she stabbed down into Blake's lung. Her patient's breathing leveled out as the lung reinflated. It wasn't a chest tube, but she wasn't about to perform field surgery on a relatively minor injury. Blake's Aura would heal the rest, she just needed time.

Scooping up the Faunus, making sure the syringe remained, she blasted away from the arena with Yang was right behind her, taking Ruby into her arms, shuffling Crescent Rose to rest against her.

"Take note for the next time you train." Ozpin announced to the still shaken audience. "You just witnessed two teammates fight until consciousness failed them, to their last breath, and last attack."

"Glynda, please instruct these idiots on how to shield against physical attacks before some of them try to replicate Ruby and Blake's stunt." Glynda nodded, not blinking an eye as Ozpin stepped forward and his form shattered in a million pieces. It was better for her sanity to not bother asking exactly how or why.

Qrow disappeared with him, but she could punish him later for some reason or another.

"You two made quite a scene." He casually leaned against the door frame to the team's room, failing to project anything less than the terrifying Commander of Beacon he was to them. The room layout got only a quick glance over.

"They needed to prove two things to you Commander." Weiss scurried about the large bed and made her lovers comfortable, checking their vitals. Ozpin kindly stepped into the room and faced the wall, closing the door behind him, while she took off the two's tops and applied light bandages.

Neo reappeared at the foot of Ruby's prone form, getting a pat on the head from Yang.

"To prove Blake could handle Ruby in the worse case scenario, and prove Ruby is on her way back to her status as High Commander." Ozpin rubbed his neck, wincing at the tender skin from Summer's ministrations. "It was a rather reckless tactic to not shield, but with they way the two were eating through Aura, I guess shielding would've hindered than."

Weiss nodded, ignoring Neo's squeak of surprise and joy at Yang's gift of ice cream. He was more than intelligent and resourceful enough to realize Ruby's acceleration wasn't anything to sneeze at, both in terms of velocity and Aura. Neither were Blake's clones, not even counting the realistic one she needed to use to hide and fool Ruby's shells.

Blake could never beat Ruby without resorting to some form of trickery or deception. Their leader simply moved beyond the scope of their narrow sensory limits, and matching her speed would've had Yang unable to cope with the Aura usage.

Transfering Aura was not part of any course taught at Beacon. It wasn't an inherently dangerous process, but the Aura withdrawal and/or rejection killed more Hunters than it saved. Yang's Aura didn't seem to cause any such rejection effects, at least with what he'd seen so far.

What they instead proved was the operating efficiency of the team. With Yang powering Weiss' Semblance, the team had a tremendous amount of control over the battlefield, the omnipotent glyphs able to mold, cut, move, and throw off balance.

Not even counting before Ruby or Blake entered the field. Theoretically, if Weiss could maintain a locked battlefield for her three teammates, spawning control surfaces every which way along with providing protection, all while keeping herself safe…

They'd be a force to be reckoned with, and with an already experienced Commander and leader at the helm, there wouldn't be an obstacle they couldn't overcome.

* * *

 **AN:** Chapters will slow down since I started my job a few days ago and am ridiculously tired from being a camp instructor. I hope the quality of my work doesn't diminish and hope you all continue to read and review my chapters. This one was a rather challenge to write and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.


	16. Thaw

Chapter Sixteen

* * *

 **Thaw**

* * *

Ruby was right at home in the forests of Forever Fall.

She knew she was surrounded by an endless expanse of scarlet deciduous foliage and stormy gray trunks, but they could've been any other type of trees registering against her shells.

No, it definitely wasn't the colours.

Life and energy thrummed throughout the vast region. Almost entirely uninhabited, the only signs of humanity was an unbroken length of track running to the ports along Vale's coast, before splitting and diverting north to service the lone port at the top of the continent.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful, but we are not here to sight-see." Mistress Professor Goodwitch lead the party of RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL through a sparsely populated clearing, following a desire path carved by previous ventures. "Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."

Glynda had thrown RWBY under the bus after they had abandoned the sparring matches and retreated to their rooms. She had painted the team leader and Faunus as still learning and inexperienced with their 'inability' to shield properly. It had bolstered the other first year's vigor to leap ahead and master shielding.

To be fair, they were showing off for Ozpin.

The habit of shielding took a weird sinusoidal curve, where the younger Hunters would struggle to keep it passively active, the mid-tiered Hunters could do it in their sleep, the veterans had to choose between using their Aura between taxing Semblance and shield, and the highest tiers, such as Yang, or those with defense based Semblances, who never had to worry about shielding.

It was a frustrating reality the Hunters had to live with, but Ruby wasn't going to sneeze at the prospect of a juggernaut on her team. If a team was resourceful and tactfully inclined, then creating a working dynamic between four Hunters with differing Semblances was a good weekend's works.

Putting it into practice though, was more of an entire year's work, assuming the team members were playing nice with each other, and not constantly fighting.

Currently, Jaune was failing in his duties as a leader and Hunter, allowing Cardin and his team to bully him around. He was lagging behind, having to carry a large case with an indeterminate amount of jars in them. They definitely weren't for his team, as they were already carrying their own jars.

"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap." Glynda instructed the group of twelve Hunters, holding up a full jar of their objective. When she had the chance to tap a tree was just another mystery. "However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 1600. Have fun!"

Ruby snagged one of the jars Yang tossed her, a tiny but true smile` appearing on her face. If Jaune wasn't going to follow in her footsteps voluntarily, then maybe it was time to make him grow a spine and learn to live with the blackmail Cardin had on him.

Jaune yelped as Ruby grabbed him by the back of his shirt and manhandled him away from Cardin and his team, the bully getting a knife at his feet to ward him away. It was a silent threat to keep away from the other team leader. He had personally witnessed the brutality of Ruby and Blake on the field, but whether he was smart enough to keep away was another great mystery they'd have to put on a large whiteboard in their room and bet on.

He got dropped off unceremoniously at Pyrrha's feet, getting an evil glare from her for his trouble. She handed him a jar and patiently waited for him to get up before grabbing his hand and dragging him to wherever Ren and Nora disappeared to.

Ruby could feel the glare coming from Cardin without having to notice his Aura. Any thoughts of retribution against the arrogant boy were chased away by Weiss breaking through her shells and latching onto her back, locking her ankles together and forcing Ruby to drop her jar to keep her up.

Weiss usually wasn't this open with her affection, but Ruby doubted it'd do much damage against the heiress' image. Their unorthodox relationship would do the most damage to their collective image, but after today, there wouldn't be anyone left who cared enough about their, or Weiss', image.

Neo's ability to impersonate, along with Blake's ability to clone, left the two of them perfect alibis while they were out preventing another war.

* * *

A bullhead roared across the open sea, its turbines churning the water white as it coasted along the surface. It wasn't Serenity, but the craft was reliable if a little outdated.

Their journey so far had gone without notice, Blake and Weiss successfully sneaking down into Beacon's districts to access the stashed bullhead. The White Fang wouldn't miss the ship, and it allowed them to pilot a reportedly stolen craft, obscuring the true identity of the occupants.

The entire premise of their mission relied on them leaving Vale unnoticed, and then entering Solitas unnoticed, a rather easy task for one bullhead, and child's play for the assassin Faunus. They couldn't even afford showing up on a radar, let alone raising an alarm.

Blake steered the bullhead above the dangerously sharp rocks of the southern coast, making sure to keep her eyes open for any intercepting craft on the horizon, every single electronic within the disabled to keep their footprint low.

The future of Remnant rested on the success of this mission.

Ducking deep into the valleys between the massive mountain ranges of Solitas, they slowly made their way deeper into the continent, keeping away from the old known outposts from the Great War. The vast tundra offered nothing in terms of foliage to hide against any patrol craft, and the bright northern summer sun beamed down onto them.

Their objective rose gracefully out of a solitary mountain, the stone grey melting seamlessly into the natural rocks, white powdery snow peppering the top of the battlements.

The Schnee residence was a picturesque castle out of a Grimm fairy tale, beautiful on the outside with its towering turrets, stunning archivolts, and colourful stained rose windows, but the inside was a labyrinth of hallways, atriums, and secrets.

Once, the Schnee family had stood as a symbol of prosperity and equality, a paragon of progress after the devastating Great War. Their research and generosity raised Remnant from its knees and allowed the four Kingdoms to gain their status of superpowers.

But along those prosperous decades, greed and racism had filtered deep into the family's ranks, sowing discord until Weiss' grandfather started to use the massive accumulated wealth and influence to inhibit the Faunus and bring about their revolution.

War was profitable for any weapons manufacturer and Dust miner, with the SDC secretly supplying both sides. History was muddled and ledgers burned, alliances discussed and betrayed, Faunus scorned and driven away from the Kingdoms, until Menagerie had been formed.

Yet the SDC war machine hadn't stopped, heavily pressing on the four Councils of Remnant to deny the Faunus their rights once again, sparking the creation of the White Fang and then after, its militarized version, until the Second Great War had started and again the planet was plunged into pointless violence.

Ruby refused to let such a unnecessary loss of life happen, and sought to nip the problem at the bud.

Third time's the charm, as the saying went.

The base of the mountain next to the castle was fraught with tiny crevasse and caves perfect for hiding an errant bullhead away from prying eyes.

Using Weiss' glyphs as platforms, the two of them slide across the blinding landscape, avoiding the terrifyingly deep snow and potential pitfalls. They made great time for reaching the base of the castle, hopefully still unnoticed by any watchful security guard, their white clothes helping to blend right in.

The first part of the mountain was tackled with liberal use of channeling Aura into their legs to leap from ledge to ledge, more glyphs being created to aid their ascent when the slippery mountainside proved too treacherous, the snow and ice causing more than one slip.

The journey was more annoying to Blake than tiring, but for Remnant to finally embrace equality and usher in an era of peace, Jacques could not be allowed to live.

Unfortunately, the castle was a relic restored from before the Great War. It's position on the tip of a mountain already made it a near impregnable location, but add in the technological marvel of cameras, and suddenly there was a fortress to break open rather than a castle.

But with the advancement of civilization came unnecessary luxuries such as ventilation, rooftop gardens, and balconies, most of which were incredibly undefended against small task forces not needing bullheads to drop off.

Usually the mountain made a great natural defense against grappling strike teams, and the mounted armaments on the battlements dissuaded most air attacks. Under the snow surrounding the castle was a graveyard of failed White Fang invasion craft, the flak battery defenses ripping them down before they could get anywhere close.

Weiss was ever helpful in directing them towards her former room within the castle, a suite set near the main keep.

They needed to exchange no words, Blake removing a circular glass cutter from her pouch and attaching it to the balcony door via suction cup. She almost started cutting before Weiss placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up to see a shake of Weiss' head.

"I never bothered locking this door." Weiss patted Blake's hair condescending, stepping into the room. Blake sat there for a few seconds, face twitching in irritation at her blunder of not checking the door in the first place. An errant hairband smacked her in the forehead, snapping her out of her stupor. "No one would've entered my room after I left, not after I took the Faunus staff."

Her twitch departed save for in her eye until Weiss booped her. Her nose scrunched up from the cold finger, but a twinkle appeared in her eyes at the word of affection.

"Jacques should be taking his lunch in the great hall along with his wife and some of the household staff." They weren't amateurs on their first mission, and Weiss was going to abuse her knowledge of the inner workings of the castle. The dining host would leave most of the castle uninhabited, leaving them to sulk uninhibited.

Shedding their heavy white overcoats and tossing them onto the bed, they creep out into the hallway, their footsteps muffled by the thick carpet meant to insulate against the cold.

In stark contrast to their camouflage, their mission gear was dyed in varying shades of black, each piece a touch different than the next to create a flowing mirage and not a block. As much as Weiss enjoyed wearing the colour of snow, she understood it would bring far too much attention

Blake wasn't exactly sure how Weiss navigated the winding hallways and staircases, head spinning on a pivot, trying to remember landmarks, be they architectural or a cluster of paintings. She admitted defeat after the thirteenth right turn where their path meandered through a crack and lead them to a storage room.

Then there was the fifteenth left turn, followed by a spiral staircase next to the waterfall spewing blue water into a tiled mosaic pool with the Schnee emblem. She so desperately wanted to blow it up with the generous load of C-4 she carried for such purposes, but their mission wasn't to level the castle, or the mountain it sat on.

Such a shame.

With how well secured the outer perimeter was supposed to be, the door to Jacques' office was only locked by a plain deadbolt with an old fashioned key. Technology could always be hacked, not matter the level of encryption, and while so could a lock be picked, the art wasn't as prevalent anymore among burglars, having moved on with the times.

Archaic and effective, but nothing Blake couldn't crack within a minute.

As a learning lesson, she tried to door, but the handle wouldn't turn.

She removed her picks from her other magical pouch and crouched down in front of the door while Weiss stood watch. Shoving in a tension wrench and holding it in place with a picky, she decided to cheat and use a hook.

The furthest pin fell nicely into place, the cotter pin clinking almost soundlessly, but the next pin after it was definitely a spool pin. The plug rotated back against the tension she was applying, marking its completion.

Sticking her tongue out in concentration and closing her eyes, her pick found the next pin and leveraged it up, careful to not let the spool pin drop. It was a delicate balancing act, to keep the pins she'd set from slipping, while not pressing hard enough to prevent the next pins from setting.

With the last pin in position, the tumbler turned from the tension and the door became slightly ajar. Running her hand along the crack slowly, she could detect no wires or other traps and pushed in further.

The ornate office was tastefully decorated in grey stained pine, muted blues, and striking silver. A plush carpet rolled all the way from the door to his raised desk, also made of the same dark wood. The only light in the office came from a crystal chandelier hanging in the middle, the room lacking in windows as a security feature.

Along the wall behind the desk was a painting of a younger Jacques, hair still thick and black, pencil stache on his upper lip, and his personal crest peeking out from behind his form. He looked ever the handsome and roguish patriarch with his strong shoulder pulled back and hands at his hip.

Never judge a book by its cover.

On top of the desk was a blue bottle of gin stamped with Jacques' personal emblem.

The man in his high castle would die tonight, all from his own folly, and the vengeance of his second daughter.

* * *

They were gone by the time Jacques finished hosting his get together, slipping away from the office and leaving the room exactly as it was before they broke in, making extra careful to replace the bottle of gin within the light dust outline.

Receding into a broom closet off the beaten hallway, they patiently waited for their target to appear, listening for the telltale strut of footsteps, the click of a lock, and the scent of arrogance.

It smelled surprisingly like juniper.

He sat behind his desk, shuffling through some thick stack of paperwork. He was a traditionalist if anything, stuck in the past and clinging to his status quo; clinging to his notions of superiority over a group of people with biological night vision, natural claws, and sharpened fangs.

Such small differences.

Three sharp knocks notified him of someone at the door and he called the person in, barely glancing up from his work.

It took more than a second of blinking to realize who exactly stepped through the threshold of the door frame, not accustomed to Weiss wearing anything but her battle skirts or a dress of white.

"Father." Weiss greeted with a small bow of her head and crossed over to one of the armchairs.

She snatched a tumbler and marveled at the designs, the light from the chandelier streaking beautifully. Pouring from the decanter, she sat back and crossed her legs, foot bouncing to an imaginary tune. She pressed the glass to her lips, taking a draught of the clean spring water.

"Weiss." He greeted in return, going straight back to his work, not sparing any more attention on his wayward daughter. "Finally decided to come home I see."

A cruel smile made its way across Weiss' face as she witnessed Jacques drink from own tumbler, imbibing the rough alcohol with a grimace. It wasn't the ethanol making his mouth and throat burn, but the pure powder of an aconite derivative, diluted.

"I'm afraid I'm here on business, not for pleasure." She cast the crystal aside and strode over to his desk, leaping up to the raised platform, leaning over, her form casting a shadow. "Thank you for keeping my seat warm and desk occupied for my ascension to CEO of the SDC."

The sudden change in conversation got his attention and he reclined in his seat, steppling his fingers and furrowing his brow.

"You disappear for four months without a word or a note, taking the entirety of the Faunus staff with you, and then return again with no announcement wearing some ridiculous outfit not fit for your status as heiress."

It was rather ridiculous with the sheer amount of straps crisscrossing across the body, but it offered an unprecedented amount of storage space while keeping her profile slim and quiet.

Where else was she supposed to keep her _Icha Icha_ supply?

"You are far from ready to assume my mantle, especially with your stubborn refusal to receive tutelage here from a private instructor, and instead go off to Beacon, far from my reach." He never bothered to speak up from his papers, his hand only straying to rub at his chest. "No doubt a foolish ploy to gain some measure of independence from me."

"Going to Beacon was the best decision I ever made for myself." She took his bottle away and peered at the contents within, careful not to touch or sniff the contaminated liquid. "You tested me with a Geist and I succeeded, and I got to taste freedom for the first time in my life."

"I expected you to act befitting your station and promote the company name during fundraisers and demonstrations, yet I have heard nothing, not even rumours, of you attending any." He grabbed the gin back and poured himself some more. "Worse yet, I hear you've been put on a team with a Faunus, one Blake Belladonna."

"She's a rather quiet and demure thing, and when I scratch her ears she makes the most adorable noises and purrs ever so softly." She recounted grinning, taking a seat on the desk. Myrtenaster was nowhere on her person, a fact he had finally taken notice of, eyes looking and finding the various concealed weapons.

"And like an animal she responds justly so." Weiss snorted at his insult, sweeping her shortened hair back. "I hope you've seen exactly how these Faunus behave; so unnatural."

"No wonder our family is barred from entering Menagerie. I always love almost getting shot down and then getting my hand nearly broken from Ghira's handshake." She stood and walked over to the bookshelf against the wall, pretending to browse the titles, swiping away dust. "Very nice man considering everything you and grandfather have done."

"I had hoped keeping you from your sister would dissuade such ridiculous notions and sentiments for the Faunus, but it seems no matter where I send you, her beliefs stick with you." He finally placed his paperwork aside and leaned into Weiss' space. "You can consider your funds cut for the duration of your time at Beacon."

"I'm more surprised you don't immediately disown me, but considering you've already done the same to Winter, you're left with no choice but to issue a hollow threat." His non-dominant hand was starting to clench and unclench as the capillaries clamped, the skin becoming cold and clammy.

"It is far from a hollow threat, dear daughter, and until you decide to end this rebellious phase, you will be excommunicated from the family, its funds, and its influence." His mustache fluttered funnily as he spoke. "I'm so grateful you spared me the trouble of sending you a message, along with confirming my suspicions."

"I couldn't very well miss your funeral." The blue bottle of gin glinted menacingly in the low light of the room. She took it from his shaking hands before he could drop it and contaminate the perfect crime scene. "I did say I was here on business, and watching you die and leave the company in my care gives me more satisfaction than _fucking_ my Faunus teammate."

"Wha-" A sudden sharp pain raced through his chest, his heart beating erratically and racing fast from the cardiotoxin. His breathing became laboured as the neurotoxin slammed into his diaphragm, cutting into his lung function. "You-"

"To think I was going to give you a choice to resign and live the rest of your days in this castle, but your arrogance and prejudice persuaded me otherwise." Her gloved hand caressed her dying father's face condescendingly. "You will die in this chair over the next few minutes, your heart beating its last as you gasp for the smallest amount of breath."

"You traitor-r." The poison worked remarkably quickly, but he'd die of cardiac arrest far before he died of oxygen starvation.

"No. The only traitor is you, and by the time I am finished repairing the damage you've caused with the might of the SDC, the Faunus might finally be equal, and the world might finally know some measure of peace without strife." She left him to die, moving to his liquor cabinet to grab a replacement bottle. Moving again, this time to the adjoining bathroom, she dumped half the bottle, and then returned to the main office.

"Your words will disappear." She placed the replacement in its original's spot.

"Your house will disappear." Jacques was barely twitching anymore, his breathing having abated to almost nothing, his muscles succumbing to the paralytic.

"Your name will disappear." Her eyes swept over the room, looking for anything out of place, but could find nothing.

"All memory of you will disappear." She was gone from the office, much like her father would soon leave the world. She closed to door behind her, the lock latching softly

Blake stood behind her across the hallway, watching her and the surroundings vigilantly, her uncovered eyes flicking absentmindedly to any slight noise. She turned Weiss around and took her face in her hands, her thumb brushing aside a stray tear she doubted Weiss was aware she let slip.

From everything she could hear, the conversation had started innocently enough with Weiss bantering and Jacques threatening kindly, then suddenly taking an abrupt turn as Jacques realized he had been poisoned, her weapon acting far quicker than she expected.

The tests for its lethal dosage were extremely low, making the massive overdose into the bottle far overkill. The powder had dissolved perfectly into the ethanol, leaving no trace around the rim.

The only problem with using aconite had been the trace it left in the poisoned system.

Under a gas chromatography or mass spectrometry, the toxin would be instantly identified and the worst case scenario they had discussed would come true. With how difficult it was to breed a genetically modified _Aconitum napellus_ in the first place, it would be a shame if their plan failed.

What she had to modify was the natural decomposition of the aconitum alkaloid, which didn't actually have a natural decomposition due to its intricate interlocking hexacyclic ring at its core.

It was a rare example of a well-known natural product that had yet to succumb to efforts toward total synthesis, thus decomposition, but playing with selective breeding had eventually created a version able to decompose into naturally occurring elements in the body, after a few hours.

A perfect poison, of which, there didn't exist a direct antidote, only supportive therapy such as dialysis.

Blake pulled Weiss along the corridors of the huge castle, following the pattern of landmarks she remembered from her way in earlier. It wasn't an explicit map, but she's trusted her instincts to take her where she needed to go and avoid any wandering staff.

With how completely unresponsive her teammate was being, it was a miracle she managed to lead them back to their point of entrance.

Weiss was an automaton, mechanically dressing back into her warm overcoat, not bothering to make a quip about putting clothes on in her room rather than taking them off.

They had no time to exchange words while still within the castle, the duo diving out the balcony headfirst after making sure to wipe their presence from the room. It was only by Weiss' saving grace their wasn't a small hole in the glass door, leaving nothing pointing to an assassination attempt.

Transitioning into a slide, they rocketed away from the castle, flying to their hidden bullhead using the momentum of the fall.

"Am I monster?" Weiss quietly asked after have divested her coat. Without it, only in her slim mission outfit, she looked frighteningly small, an innocent child sitting in the co-pilot's seat.

Blake had only seen her vacant gaze once before, just after they had annihilated Vacuo from the map. It was an odd combination of disgust at the ease of their success and the haunting realization they were near gods among mortals, walking about with impunity.

Soaring back out into the open seas, Blake flicked on the autopilot and leant over to her side, snatching her partner and dragging her onto her lap. She didn't need to utter any words of comfort to dissuade such thoughts as they both knew they were far from denying their natures or actions. She just needed to be there and let Weiss nuzzle into her neck, feeling a tear run down her skin, offering a shoulder to cry on.

It was her way of saying she loved her regardless.

* * *

Nora was a glutton.

Of the eight jars of sap they were supposed to have collected between the two teams, she had devoured six of them, leaving a red guilty and embarrassed smile on her face.

Though it was edible, all of them were sure it was a bad idea to ingest such a ludicrous quantity.

Ruby also had a inkling of the bad idea Cardin and his team were brewing just over the crest of a hill, her new addition to her shells ferreting them out. A wall of Aura now rotated around her, catching any errant prey skulking about between the domes, turning her into a living radar.

Some object flew from Cardin, traveling directly at Pyrrha.

Without giving a second thought, she teleported into its path, snatching it out of the air. Though she couldn't exactly see what was inside the glass container, she could deduct it was filled with the red sap they were charged with collecting.

Like a moron, Cardin must've expected to jar to break upon hitting Pyrrha, covering her in the sticky red syrup. Rather, it would've done nothing but injure the girl.

Not everything happened as it did in movies.

Within another instant, she stood in front of Cardin, terrifying the poor boy beyond his wits at her sudden appearance. She kindly handed the jar back without a word, returning just a quickly to her team, making him wonder if he wasn't having some terrible flashbacks from watching her spar.

Before he could come to a conclusion, a low growl reached his ears, causing him to turn around to see a large paw emerge from the shadows of the forest. A huge Ursa Major with dozens of jagged spikes sticking out of its wide back lumbered out, interested in the congregation of Aura in its territory. It rose up on its hind legs and roared at the presence of a challenge.

Team CRDL was out of there before it could land back on its feet, _strategically_ retreating from the hulking armored tank, running directly past teams RWBY and JNPR, the Ursa curiously sniffing along their scent trail.

Ruby looked at the Ursa, then went straight back to collecting more sap.

"Hey Jaune, I bet Pyrrha will go on a date with you if you can kill the Grimm." Yang called out from across the clearing, helping her friends get together and start a relationship. Pyrrha and Jaune briefly looked at each other, flushing a cute red as their eyes met.

Yang thought it was honestly worse watching them than reading _Ninjas of Love_.

Jaune's choice was decided for him as the Ursa attacked him, the lumbering beast surprisingly agile for a behemoth of such size. He could barely get his shield up in time, the Ursa swiping down with its full weight, barely able to push back.

Throwing the paw aside with a generous helping of Aura, he swiped the Grimm across its chest. It stumbled backwards, black ooze dripping down its fur and continuing down, staining the crimson grass.

Enraged, the Ursa swiped high, Jaune rolling away from the heavy strike, grass staining his jeans. Finding his feet, he awkwardly forced his unbalanced body to jump, avoiding a low blow meant to cripple his knees.

He couldn't the next blow as it caught him on the way down from his jump, his armor thankfully protecting him from the deadly white claws, but still winding him.

Rolling to a stop, he checked his breastplate, finding three deep gouges in the metal. Only his light coating of Aura shield prevented a lethal injury.

Silently he thanked Glynda for beating in the necessity of shielding, having witnessed the bloody battle between Blake and Ruby.

Charging forward with the stubbornness and audacity of a freshman, he met the Grimm with his shield forgotten and sword ready to strike.

The sharp claws would've ripped his head off if Pyrrha hadn't moved his shield up, causing the Ursa to open up its guard and letting Jaune cleave its head off.

Tit for tat.

Black life blood rained down onto Jaune, staining his clothes and ruining his perfect hair. The remains of the Grimm dissolved into shadows, permeating deep into the ground or disappearing into the air.

"Guess you own him a date Pyrrha." Yang smacked the girl on her back, flattening her to the ground. "I wish you two a happy and healthy relationship."

She, her team, and suspiciously Ren and Nora, were gone when she got up, leaving her alone with Jaune and the consequences of Yang's words.

* * *

"Are you done beating your head bloody, or are you going to leave me wondering what Team RWBY did this time?" Glynda sat across from Ozpin's desk, watching with open amusement as her superior make the papers jump.

"What makes you think it was Team RWBY?" Ozpin spoke with his forehead pressed against the cool glass, rolling his head to the side to meet Glynda's gaze.

"I can read the header, along with Ruby's personal emblem, but nothing else. It's also entirely handwritten, and wasn't submitted to you electronically, meaning they don't want it being keylogged or hacked, yet it's not important enough to warrant a personal meeting."

"The only reason I'm not getting a personal report is because Ruby's either scared of my reaction, or she deems the report inconsequential. Probably the latter knowing the psychopath." Ozpin slid the piece of paper over, nursing his burgeoning headache with a cold glass of Armagnac, turning a dial on his desk to cut any listening frequencies. "Blake and Weiss assassinated Jacques Schnee earlier today."

Glynda blinked at him owlishly, lips twisting into a grimace, and took the offered paper, skimming over the heavily detailed report. Everything was clearly outlined, from Ruby's authorization, the objective, budget, time allotted, poison used and its properties, entrance and exit strategies, and the destruction of the aircraft used.

"They with me all day today gathering sap from the trees at Forever Fall when this supposed assassination took place. A very good alibi considering two other teams will testify they saw the two there. Blake's presence can be explained with a clone, but I can't explain Weiss'."

"I know exactly how Weiss pulled it off." Ozpin shattered his tumbler with a loud crack when his grip became too strong, shards embedding into his hand. "And I'm not a liberty to tell you for your own protection."

"You mean the pink haired girl I see you chase around every once in awhile?" Glynda continued reading through the report, marveling at the detailed schematic of the poison Blake created. "I've known about for for months Oz, but I assumed you had some reason for protecting her."

"Mhmm." Ozpin's Aura disintegrated the shards and healed his injuries.

"For a team greener than spring grass, they certainly don't act like one." She thumbed through more pages, digging deeper into the expected fallout from the mission, studying the probability numbers given for each outcome. "All of their schoolwork is impeccable, and from the two sparring sessions I've done with them, they are far beyond any graduate we've trained."

"That's the frightening issue, isn't it?" If at their current level they can kill one of the most powerful businessman, and get away with it, where would they be in a few months?

In a year?

In a decade?

"We can't punish them Oz." Glynda was ever the voice of reason. Under the charter the Hunters functioned under, they had no explicit laws making murder illegal, as it was assumed a Hunter would never kill a human, and they would function under the laws of the country they operated in.

They protected their own.

"No, but we can assign them enough detentions and physical training to dissuade such missions from taking place."

"Dissuade?" Glynda flipped back to the cover sheet, tracing the lines of Ruby's sigil rather than a signature as her authorization. "Or do you mean train further?"

"When I pass, Ruby will take over my mantle as Commander of Beacon." He gave a heavy sign, hand extended for the mission report. "Even as a psychopath, she show far more potential than any candidate ever admitted."

"That's what you said about her mother when she was accepted." His decision was his own, and by their own laws, she would be the most likely accepted replacement when Ozpin died, having been chosen by him.

He hummed again noncommittally.

"Have you memorized everything important?" Glynda nodded and his Aura ignited the stack of paper, leaving nothing but a burnt staple. "Then let us get shitfaced and forget what some must do for the good of Remnant."

Glynda didn't say no to the offered bottle of liquor.

* * *

 **AN:** Sorry this chapter took so long to release. Between work and video gaming I've had little time to think about writing, nor did I feel motivated enough. If it ever takes more than a month to release another chapter, feel free to drop a message to kick my ass into gear.

Shout out Inept for getting me to finish this one.


	17. Lost

Chapter Seventeen

* * *

 **Lost**

* * *

Winter wasn't supposed to be sleeping on the job, but paperwork was a hassle for most people, and all of those people despised it.

Except, it seemed, the elite of the bureaucratic order, namely Ozpin, Ironwood, and potentially the other two Headmasters of Remnant's Academies.

James could understand needing a break from the endless monotony, and would usually let her take short naps while also bringing her a cup of coffee to help stimulate her for the next session of work.

She stirred from the crook of her elbow, turning her head up to see James walking in with two steaming mugs of the greatest creation on the planet. Her head fell back down, but her other hand extended to reach for the cup he placed on her desk.

Brushing her hair back from her face, she drank deeply, but a peculiar taste had her attention snapped to her superior. Nothing looked different from him, except for the increasingly common five o'clock shadow on his face, usually meaning some crisis needed an immediate response.

Stress was a bitch sometimes, and if she didn't already have white hair, she didn't doubt she'd have gray streaks running through her bun.

"Grimm invasion?" Through the rich dulcet tones of Vacuoan coffee, the bite and smooth, velvet texture of sweet caramel seeped through. She had only tasted it once before when she had first been accepted as James' apprentice.

"No." James rested against her desk, scratching at his stubble. "One of the Council's most important members was found dead today and we're being called into an emergency meeting to discuss the ramifications."

"You know I hate those meetings." She frowned mind racing at the different possibilities. "I'm surprised you're even going."

"This Council member's death has every single party interested, given the massive political and economic collateral resulting from his death."

Only one such Council member came immediately to mind so she chugged her coffee with little decorum and slammed the mug down, a large smile on her face. She had a specific drawer labeled for such a momentous occasion and opened it, pulling out a party hat, a party whistle and a bunch of confetti in a plastic bag.

Sticking the whistle into a confused General's mouth and putting on the hat for herself, she threw the bag into the air and slashed it open with a pair of scissors. James needed a little prodding, but he eventually got the picture and blew into the cheap party gimmick.

"So who finally killed my asshole of a father?" Sarcasm dripped from the last word as she reclined into her seat and spun around, some of the errant confetti flying from her hair. "Was it the White Fang, or did my mother finally snap out of her alcoholic stupor to murder him?"

"I only gave you a shot of whiskey..." James sweatdrop and she flipped him off. "From the immediate preliminary report, it seems he just died from a heart attack."

Winter stared at him perplexed before snorting very rudely, gathering her composure to look at him again, and then snorting again, only to devolve into mad giggles.

"He was only what, 50? 60, at most? Unless his lifestyle allowed for plenty of unchecked cholesterol, high blood pressure, sodium, sugar, or low exercise, it's a rare incident, but not entirely unheard of." James would've been saddened to hear Winter couldn't remember how old her father was if he didn't know how distanced the two were. "Have there been any obvious signs of an assassination?"

"No. The investigators report the room is immaculate, save for a tumbler of water on the coffee table, but a quick dusting revealed no lip or fingerprints." James pointed out, having already been at the scene to get the lay of the situation. "If it was an assassination, it was done by a poison meant to induce or mimic cardiac arrest, and the person responsible wanted it to be known by pouring a glass of water unless it was a rookie mistake."

"A rookie wouldn't have been able to infiltrate the castle in the first place. There were no incoming or outgoing blips on the radars on the coast, meaning it was an Atlesian assassin, a planted one from several weeks ago who managed to get past customs, or a skilled one to fly low enough to avoid the radars."

"This is all theoretical at this point since we don't know if he was killed, or if his heart decided to give out." James pointed out. He would've loved to believe Jacques simply died naturally, but twice he had seen high ranking officers and diplomats get assassinated. The pink menace had refused to be captured and remained elusive to this day.

"As much as he and I rarely met, and saw eye to eye, he was an incredible careful person, and looked incredibly healthy." She hated him, she truly did, for his lackadaisical and stern approach to Weiss' and her upbringing, to the rumored labor camps he maintained deep in the mountains.

She was angrier she hadn't been there to see him die.

"Life happens sometimes Winter." He knew better than most as a General during the Faunus Rights Revolution, where men and women he commanded would be sent off and then never return.

"That's not an acceptable answer." She took the party hat off, crumbling and throwing it aside. "I was supposed to stand by his deathbed and watch him leave this world, be it quietly or in agony."

"Sometimes I worry about you." Every Hunter was somewhat cracked in the head, and his direct subordinate wouldn't be breaking the mold.

"That's kind of you." She ordered some of the paperwork on her desk, leaving the rest in a scattered shamble. "I'm definitely not going to this completely useless meeting of old men vying for the seat of power meant for the head of the Schnee family."

"You'll leave me all alone with those vultures?" He asked, chuckling good-naturedly, not rising to the bait of her calling him old. "Propriety demands I attend and remind them Weiss is meant to be sitting in the chair when she takes over the family. You're going to notify her?"

"Notify her?" Winter pinged the hanger to have her supersonic jet ready for her by the time she made it down. "I'm going to thank her for doing my job and enjoy a weekend without listening to the pandering of sycophants trying to get into my good graces."

"You don't have any vacations day anymore." James reprimanded her, knowing she took far too many days off for her 'meetings' with Qrow, which were officially classified as information gathering and sharing with allies, but were nothing more than excuses for the two to get drunk and fuck.

He wasn't about to act as the overbearing father and tell her she shouldn't be doing it, even as her superior because he did the exact same thing with his official visits to Beacon to see Glynda.

All he got was a middle finger in reply.

* * *

The supersonic jet she flew across the sea managed to get to the coast of Vale in a mere hour but took another two to maneuver across the northern territories to reach Beacon. The technology was experimental from one of the military's subsidiary research companies, but it was faster than her personal craft and years better than the outdated bullheads.

The only downside was the sheer amount of fire Dust it burned to activate and maintain the afterburners.

Landing clearance had been granted near instantly, and Ozpin himself met her at the hangar, face just a shade paler than she normally knew him by. James must've notified him of the reason for her visit, and let her know he would suppress any incoming communications from Atlas, except from him.

He retreated into his secluded hangar after giving her Weiss' room number, and if the rumors about its contents were true, he wasn't coming out anytime soon, likely to lapse into a cocoa coma and leaving Glynda to run the Hunters.

The hallways of the dorms were surprisingly empty for such a large inhabited building. Some teams milled about in the common area, but most seemed to either not be present or were secluded in their own rooms.

It wasn't hard to find the room with the way any military branch was organized, but the layout of the dorms was far more spacious than the secluded and enclosed Atlas Academy design. While they didn't lack in space in terms of air, they much preferred to expand into the sturdy mountain, making expansion spartan and minimalist.

The door was nondescript, a sturdy pine painted a soothing off shade of white, and she knocked politely, expecting a quick response from her ever timely sister.

She knew something was wrong when she didn't receive a response in ten seconds, forcing her to try again, this time noticeably louder.

She was just about to leave and seek out Glynda to find out where they went when the door opened to reveal Weiss' leader, Ruby Rose, her ethereal pink eyes, shimmering silver and red, staring up at her.

The music playing out of the room surprised her, knowing she should've easily heard it playing into the hallway.

"Weiss, your hot sister is here." Ruby stepped aside to let her in. She was used to subtle compliments from her coworkers, but only Qrow had ever been brazen enough to be so direct about it.

It was also supremely bizarre to be hit on by not only the niece of her lover but the partner of her sister.

What made it more strange was the girl's eye color. The last time she saw her was during her quick escape to the small island of Patch at Qrow's behest, and she gladly went to check on Weiss, simultaneously meeting the other three girls on her team, but she didn't remember those glowing yet soulless eyes reminding her too much about the pink menace.

That _thing_ still had no name.

The layout of the room also caused her to pause as she counted three long desks shoved up against the walls where an absurdly large scythe was disassembled. The blade itself made up most of the length of the table. On the others were massive arrays of paperwork, far more than she thought necessary for simple schoolwork.

On the _one_ huge bed in the room were Ruby's teammates, all shouting at the projected screen on the wall about some sort of discrepancy. On one side of it sat the Princess of Menagerie who greeted her with a small nod before going back to petting the small canine in her lap.

Smack in the middle was her younger sister, cuddled up to the daughter of Taiyang. Her short hair was wildly disheveled and she had a stupid grin on her face as she pressed into Yang, displaying more affection than she ever had for her own sister.

The seven bottles of high proof grain alcohol did not bode well, but at least there was cola and orange soda to dilute it.

* * *

Winter wasn't any sort of surprise for Ruby, her arrival long predicted and most probable to notify Weiss about the death of her father.

It was only at the suspicious looks from Winter she realized her sunglasses weren't on her nose and her eyes were far from her registered silver. She had tried out Yang's suggestion about borrowing Rei's eyes and, while it left the Grimm with her sightless marbles, it finally let Ruby actually see from her own perspective for the first time in months.

Rei didn't seem to mind, the canine-based Grimm primarily relying on smell far more than sight, especially with the constant attention given from the inebriated Faunus.

It had the benefit of unnerving Winter completely, the mixture of her blistering silver and Rei's nightmare red resulting in a near identical shade to Neo's. She had expected to have Rei's eyes to frighten her enemies, but apparently, her former silver wasn't going to go away easily when given the chance to reemerge.

"We're playing Jackbox so get your scroll out and hop in." She settled into a spot on the edge of their bed, briefly taking in the situation of her teammates. "There should be a bottle of something Yang hasn't drunk yet somewhere."

Neo certainly didn't help calm Winter's nerve about the blasé attitude in the room, materializing directly in front of her and offering a bottle of beer, all with her usual creepy smile plastered on.

It caused Winter to immediately draw her saber and slash at the assassin, grimacing as the illusion shattered, curiously taking the bottle Neo was holding with it.

Neo rematerialized directly behind Ruby, hiding her face in her hair and parting it to peek at the enraged and stupefied Winter.

"Miss Rose, are you aware the girl hiding behind you is wanted for multiple assassinations and the theft of the Mistral Diamond, and suspected of committing the Great Vacuoan Casino Heist?" Winter alternated looking between the two pairs of pink eyes, Neo grinning coyly and Ruby only staring back blankly.

Ruby purposefully extended the silence.

"I thought I told you to call me Ruby." The inane response utterly stunned Winter, not the usual reply to being told a murderer sat in the same room as the. Ruby then spoke the Neo without bothering to turn her head, further mystifying Winter. "I never knew about the Diamond. High five."

Neo returned the five.

"What?" A strand of Winter's hair comically fell across her eyes.

"Winter!" Weiss squealed, suddenly detaching from Yang to rush over and attach to Winter. It was only by the grace of luck Weiss didn't get impaled, Winter barely lowering her weapon in time. "When did you get here?"

"About thirty seconds ago." Winter deadpanned, struggling to free her arms from the tiny urchin clamped around them. What followed for the next few seconds was a hilarious attempt to wiggle out from the bindings, and Neo, feeling completely left out, clamped onto Ruby, wrapping her arms over her shoulder and pressing into the gem on her back.

"You should visit more." Weiss relented, still somewhat coherent enough to recognize the signs of an irate Winter. "You only come to visit when something goes wrong, and if it weren't for the timely death of dear old daddy, then I wouldn't have seen you until the Vytal Festival."

Ruby could see Winter fitting the pieces together, glancing between looking at Neo, the inebriated Weiss, and then the smirking Blake.

"How did you know our father was dead?" Winter dreaded the answer, but Ruby wasn't going to bother hiding the answer from her, knowing getting her team this drunk was a celebration for the work they'd done so far in this dimension. Ozpin knew everything he needed to know, to a point, and keeping Winter and James in the loop only guaranteed powerful allies to the north.

Weiss giggled, falling back onto the mattress, vision swimming at the sudden vertigo. "That's a secret."

"Winter." Ruby caught her attention, handing over a bottle of questionable substance. "You're the next General of Atlas Academy. I was expecting more deducting from you given the number of pieces of information I've given you."

"I don't particularly like the conclusion I'm forming." She grit her teeth and slammed back some of the harsh and cheap alcohol.

"Tough. As the next General, you'll have to deal with information you don't know how to deal with and then reevaluate how your mission objectives go from there." Ruby reached over the Rei, scratching her lightly along her snout. Walls of glyphs appeared around the room, sealing any outgoing noise away before disappearing.

Weiss had applied the glyphs before her binge drinking had started and then had graciously granted Ruby control over them. The Aura was supplied by Yang as always, but it made her pause, wondering if there was some way to share Aura and Semblances without using Yang as a pesky medium.

"Weiss hasn't been contacted by anyone from Atlas, nor from any other third party to notify her of the death of Jacques Schnee, yet she's been heavily drinking since 1400."

"His body wasn't found until 1700." Winter blandly remarked, hand gripping her saber noticeably tighter. "The pink thing attached to your back killed him, didn't she?"

Neo lifted her face just enough to shake her head.

"She has a name you know, but you'd be incorrect. Neo was just here to impersonate Weiss because knowing her as well as I do, she'd have leveled the castle instead of assassinating one man." Ruby didn't need to see Neo's face, feeling the large grin forming against her back. Her team vaguely paid attention to their conversation, lost in their online game.

"Weiss would never kill her father." Weiss picked her head up long enough to yell out 'Wrong!' before collapsing back down for more head scratches from Yang. "Why're you telling me this?"

"Because you deserve to know, now put down the saber and enjoy the party. I could simply disarm you, or Neo could trap you in your worst nightmare, but I'd prefer if you didn't cause any trouble."

"Trouble? You're harboring the most wanted fugitive on the planet and just confessed to the second highest ranking Atlesian Hunter you conspired to murder Jacques Schnee." Winter may have sheathed her sword, but her voice took its place, rising several dozen decibels as she ripped into Ruby. "You want trouble? I can have you arrested and tried for first degree."

"But you won't, simply because this had to happen, and you love Weiss far too much to turn her in. Every single possible outcome has already long been calculated, and nothing will ever tie Weiss to having committed a murder. As far as the world knows, Jacques Schnee died of a heart attack."

"She poisoned him." Winter concluded and Ruby nodded. "Explain to me why he had to die, and why I won't immediately go to Ozpin and have the four of you dismissed from the Hunters."

"Because he was a racist cunt." Blake's voice cut into the conversation, causing her three teammates to shiver at the power behind it. Rare and underused, Blake's voice was beyond hypnotic to them.

"And because Ozpin already knows." Ruby bantered nonchalantly, Winter choking on the vodka. "Given your critical thinking, follow along why exactly I would've ordered Weiss to assassinate her own father."

Winter visibly clamped down on her tongue.

In the event of the sudden death of the head of the Schnee family, the will of the deceased would be activated and the heir would receive everything. In this case, since she was disowned, Weiss would get everything, barring she wasn't convicted of the murder.

The timing of the assassination made her pause. There was absolutely no reason for Ruby to have ordered it unless you looked at the way the market worked. With the earnings being reported a week ago, Weiss was in a perfect position to buyout her own company and return it to the private sector.

"The why should be obvious. For close to two decades, ever since the Faunus Right Revolution, Jacques has misappropriated the money and political might of the SDC, using it to stymie the rights of the Faunus, forcing a mass exodus to Menagerie, and inadvertently creating the White Fang. As our resident former White Fang member and Princess could tell you, they were first created because of the oppression the Faunus faced, eventually forming the militant faction we know as the current White Fang." Ruby took a chance to take a drink of her decidedly non-alcoholic drink, being among the two who could never partake.

"While we could've waited for him to die, waiting for him to wreak more havoc would've been counterintuitive to our plans for Remnant, and we were not about to let the Fang and their rampant militarism use his continued idiocy and greed to not only polarize governments but also increase the rate of spawned Grimm."

"Neo had nothing to do with concocting the plan, and was only used to provide Weiss with an alibi, and while she has committed various atrocities, she is also a mercenary for hire. And if I can look by the fact she killed my mother, you can look over her crimes and realize she's helped far more than she's hurt."

 _You just completely fucked up._ Summer facepalmed, forcing Ruby to whiten at her blunder. Winter was inexplicably tied to Qrow, and she wasn't quite sure if RWBY could repel an incensed uncle/father from enacting his revenge. _Two mistakes in less than five minutes. What is wrong with you?_

What was wrong with them, she should've phrased, but the point was made. Months ago, they would've never made such mistakes, carefully planning out every moment of the conversation and manipulating Winter to follow along.

Looking back, there had been several mistakes made, far in the past.

The first had been a necessary evil: staying with Taiyang and Qrow over the summer. The two parent figures meant no more to her than any other Hunter, just two more experienced specialists.

But then the real mistakes started coming up simply because she, nor her teammates, were omniscient or omnipotent.

Frivolous use of abilities during the entrance exam, forging a connection with Team JNPR, and acquiescing to Ozpin's public sparring sessions were the major mistakes.

She was the High Commander of Beacon, not some prepubescent teenage girl needing reinforcement about her Semblance and weapon.

Her abilities were meant to be hidden, but an inexplicable urge forced her to test Crescent Rose against the Nevermore, just as a similar urge had forced Blake to reveal her illusory death card upon a surprising tactic used by her opponent.

And drawing JNPR into their fights accomplished nothing but to fill a sentimental hole from their first dimension.

The lack of an outright war was softening them up, and it'd only be some time until such a mistake either ruined their plans and movements or got her or a teammate killed.

 _What're we going to do Ruby?_ It was an innocent question at first glance, but Summer was truly asking about their plans for after they finally brought peace onto Remnant. Granted, they still needed to rip through the White Fang, elevate Menagerie to a world power, and either remove or destroy the Maidens and the Relics, but she was only necessary for the first and last.

 _I have no purpose other than protecting you, Ruby, and the Grimm are negligible at this point as a danger. Once the White Fang are gone, and Cinder and the Relics are gone, I will disappear into your psyche, and once I'm gone, you will fall apart as the mask will no longer be needed._

Summer didn't need to state what would happen once both of them were gone, leaving the utter primal instinct hidden within her psyche unchecked. I'd leave their body in peak condition, but their mind crippled beyond redemption.

It'd be beyond cruel to force the remainder of Team RWBY to actually go through with Contingency: Prune, possibly scaring them for life, and neither of them had any sort of answer, be it easy or hard.

"You can either arrest Weiss and me under your warped sense of justice, or you can help end the Fang's militancy. With the SDC firmly under Weiss' control, and with her voice on the Council, Atlas may finally see some relaxation on its discriminatory laws. Along with the change will come the disbandment of the labor camps, along with reparations, given as grants to Menagerie to construct a CCTS tower and expand their influence."

"Of course, this will all come after the company is bought out, which may take several tens of millions of Lien, but will firmly leave it in Weiss' hands. And then just to piss off the old farts on the Council, Blake will act of proxy for her, and given her status as Princess of Menagerie, and the debt most of the Council holds to the Schnees, they'll have to walk on their tiptoes."

Winter had to blink several times at the sheer ruthlessness of the plan, sinking deep in the bottle for her mind to piece together everything she just learned. She might not have liked the breaking the law part, especially the murder, but she knew Weiss would be a far more beneficial to the Faunus as a whole in the long run.

Placing Blake on the Atlesian Council, on the seat of the Schnee's of all places, would mark the first time a Faunus held such a decisive position in one of the four Kingdoms, removing the primary antagonizing point in the rally cry of the Fang. The militarist faction would lose credibility from all Faunus on the planet, only extending the credibility of the non-violent faction.

"How do you expect me to react to everything you've just told me? You're a fifteen-year-old girl embroiled in a conflict she shouldn't even be concerned with, and you've pulled your team with you, hiring the most prolific assassin and thief of the century to assist, who killed your mother, all while ordering Weiss to kill her own father."

Ruby was saved by an exuberant Yang suddenly realizing there was another Schnee to flirt with, pulling Winter from her chair onto the bed and manhandling her to sit between her and Weiss. As tipsy Weiss was, she could better explain the actions the team took and then pout at Winter until she agreed to keep their secrets and help them in their endeavors.

Offering her her place back in the family was a great bargain on top of everything.

She knew all of this information would get back to Qrow and James anyways, saving her from having to twice explain their plans and reasonings.

 _Do we even have a plan for destroying the Relics?_ Ruby sank into her mindscape, meeting Summer in front of a roughly hewn stone table with a highly detailed map of Remnant engraved on it.

Hundreds of wooden pawns were set in various locations with most of them centered around Vale. Dozens were situated within the Capital Districts, either informants within Blake's network, or clones of Blake within the Council.

Within Vacuo were the two pawns representing Qrow and Sienna Khan, but both of these were only probable estimates or where they were based on information several weeks old.

In Mistral was Raven, again, only an assumption based on their previous knowledge from their first dimension, but at least guessing with a high probability of success on the location of the Spring Maiden was better than not knowing.

They'd been unable to locate the Fall Maiden, Amber, and given how it had been Cinder who found her in the first place, they had to assume they wouldn't be able to get to her. Wherever she was secreted away was beyond the scope of Blake's informants.

In Atlas were the pieces of Jacques, James, and Winter, but the first morphed into a figurine of the SDC emblem at a simple thought. With several months before the Vytal Festival, Atlas' dominant military presence was a necessity against the growing White Fang, though they'd have to prevent Cinder's virus from infecting them.

 _Or are we hedging our bets on the Relics being nothing but red herrings?_ Summer studied the board, looking over the location of the four Academies where each of the Relics were purportedly located. _They could still be fragments of near unlimited power locked away behind Maiden-locked doors._

 _ **Or, you know, you could ask me.**_ Ruby and Summer were only barely startled as Neo appeared within their mindscape, her voice sounding out from all around them instead of from her mouth.

They only needed to reassess where Neo was pressed up against for them to realize exactly how she was communicating with them in this sanctuary. With how Rei was tied into their mindscape through the gemstone, it didn't come as a complete surprise Neo could hijack it from touching it.

 _Are the Relics real, or a myth?_ Summer's sarcastic drawl echoed around the barren and bleak white scape.

 _ **How should I know?**_ Summer manifested an anvil above Neo, but a quick swat of her parasol sent it careening into the ground some meters away, the gravity of the metaphysical plane warping drastically. _**I've never seen them before, and never had any reason to go chasing after them.**_

"Do you know why they're sealed away by a Maiden's abilities?" It never made the slightest bit of sense why only one of them could open the lock, seeing as how a Maiden already possessed abilities far beyond any regular Semblance and didn't need anymore.

From what limited information they had about the Maidens, they were fragments of Ozpin's elemental powers split into four. Why he had done so was not a question they had thought to ask as it wouldn't have changed anything, but if they were indeed solely his creations, then why would Salem ever agree to have them safeguard the Relics?

Though Creation was supposed to be Ozpin's, the Knowledge to create such an ability, along with Ozpin most likely having to use Destruction to tear pieces from him, were Salem's, at least according to the goddess.

Unless Salem thought it was a hilarious joke for women to go around killing each other for the chance of attaining one of the four mythical positions, and they wouldn't put it past Salem to agree to such a prank.

 _ **From a purely theoretical standpoint, the lock can only be opened because of a genetic similarity to Ozpin or Salem, or because the massive influx of Aura required to open the lock can only be achieved from becoming a Maiden.**_ Neo animated the pawn representing her and had it spar with her finger. _**If the first one is true, then you could open the door, and if the second is, then Yang could.**_

And conveniently, one of the Relics was stored right under Beacon in the Vault. It'd be stupid to not test either of the theories with them having access to it, with or without Ozpin's permission. He'd probably find it hilarious if they did confirm the Relics were nothing but useless placeholders meant to bait humanity into unneeded bloodshed, the myth of the four Relics together granting omnipotent power serving as tests.

With how history had been altered from the Great War, they were more than thankful more people didn't know of the stupid Relics.

And if they were indeed fragments of shed power, then they'd have to decide what to do with them then.

It all did rely on them unlocking the Vault on a technicality, but those were the best types of victories.

 _Even if the Relics are useless, the myth of the Maidens remains prevalent, and we can't leave such raw potential unchecked from those who would misuse it, and Cinder continues to evade every attempt we've made to find her. Any chance you can kill her?_

 _ **I'm never in the same room with her, and I don't want an angry Salem after me for interfering with her plans.**_ She winced as the small Neo figurine bit into her finger but then was quickly squashed into oblivion. _**I may like and even respect, but dealing with an immortal goddess is not on the top of my list.**_

"It'd still be a moot point to kill Cinder since the Maiden title would simply pass to the next one. It isn't locked to one core, and the immateriality of it resists the destruction of its holder."

 _ **They're fragments of a god, of course, they can't be destroyed so easily. Locked away, yes, but then the same problem as the Relics resurfaces. The only source of energy powerful enough to kill a being of Ozpin and Salem's magnitude is a soul.**_

 _I love how conveniently you happen to know how to solve two of our problems at once._ Summer reclined into a comfy loveseat, setting her feet on the stone map. Neo looked confused, her face contorting and eyes flashing between her usual three.

 _ **The only time I saw the power of a human soul in action was when the predecessor to Ozpin and Salem sacrificed itself to create Aura and Semblances. It saw its continued existence dwindling and decided to grant a gift to humanity, and Ozpin and Salem have been manipulating it since. If one could rewrite the fundamental building blocks of reality, destroying energy shouldn't be a problem.**_ Neo walked over and plopped down onto Summer's lap, creating some ice cream to munch on. _**Who's unlucky soul are you planning to sacrifice?**_

 _Ours._ Neo's eyes narrowed dangerously, spoon stuck in mouth, waiting for Summer to laugh and tell her it was a joke.

 _ **Pick someone else.**_ Neo tossed the ice cream, blasphemous, and wrapped her arms around Summer, clearly expressing she was hers and she wasn't about to let her go and commit suicide.

 _What is your purpose Neo?_ Summer returned the nuzzle, breathing in the scent so decided Neo.

It took a few seconds until they realized Neo wasn't answering because she was crying, tears running down Summer's neck unabated.

She was in no condition to answer.

 _The only reason I was created was to protect Ruby, a failsafe created by her psyche to cope with the brutal torture she faced, designed and created to protect her and the Hunters from their enemies. Once, Cinder and the Fang are gone, I won't be needed, and will disappear, but in the process will meld my vicious tendencies with hers._

"There is always the chance Summer won't disappear and we'll continue to remain as separate personas." Ruby perched on the armrest and scratched Neo's head softly. "But the chance to erase the Maiden along with the Relics is too great of an opportunity to pass up. If I have only one chance to protect my Hunters and my people, I will take it."

The sudden surge of anger from Neo caught them by surprise, a shockwave of Aura disintegrating the armchair and blasting Ruby and Summer away from her.

 **Fuck you.** The air warped around Neo, her control over her appearance faltering. _**You think my existence was easy? Watching as my family died around me, watching my land be put to the torch and people killed? Ozpin and Salem were the only two keeping me alive, and I'll be damned to the lowest circle of hell if I let you leave me.**_

The maniacal possessiveness didn't come as a shock, knowing she'd attach to any person with a similar lifestyle and experience.

 _ **I'll find a way to save you, even if it costs me my own soul.**_ Neo retreated from their mindscape, and from their tentative connection to the outside, saw her disappear in a shower of mirror shards, all of them covering her body.

In spite of her coming death, Ruby and Summer smiled, beyond ecstatic Neo wasn't willing to let them go. They suspected their own team wouldn't take it sitting down either, but Ruby would keep them in the dark to spare them the suffering.

Maybe Remnant would finally know peace after her passing.

A lone tear traced a path down her cheek, unnoticed.

* * *

 **AN:** No author's note for you. I await your incensed reviews.


	18. Mosaics

Chapter Eighteen

* * *

 **Mosaics**

* * *

"Why is it you always get the weirdest ideas when I'm not coherent enough to understand them?" Weiss massaged her temples, feeling the near constant headache seeping in whenever she had to deal with Ruby's shenanigans.

The secret elevator hidden within the CCTS tower had opened for them without any delay, with nothing more than a merry message from the Headmaster displayed on the screen within. The annoying jingle only served to aggravate the hammering midget in Weiss' head some more, slowly becoming a migraine.

Even the stupid buttons had served to piss her off, the interactive displays labeled all the way from "First Basement', to the strange level designated 'Fort Port', and then down to 'Super Secret Vault, Do Not Enter'. Then to rub it in further, the last one had a small little asterisk directing their attention to an absolutely tiny font stating, 'unless you are Ruby'.

"I'm going to find a way to kill Ozpin." Yang frantically waved away the smoke billowing from Weiss' ears. "If this Relic is a fragment of Ozpin's Aura then I'm going to reverse engineer it and find a way to murder him."

 **Try it. I'll put you in the ground.** Ozpin's response provoked a snort from Blake, marking the few times someone had managed to get any sort of reaction from the quiet Faunus.

"Square up Grandpa!" Watching Weiss yell at the display was a hilarity rarely see and was funnier than watching Winter awkwardly dodge compliments and flirts from both Weiss and Yang in their drunken stupor. Thankfully, Ruby had kept the silencing barrier active throughout the night, preventing a curious JNPR from asking questions, and saving Jaune from Weiss flirting with another blonde haired juggernaut.

The Vault was desolate as always, polished marble reflecting the soft green glow of the crystalline torches. Up above, only visible to Ruby and Blake were soaring arches and tall windows to nowhere, the ceiling ending some ten meters above them.

For such an elaborately designed entrance hall, the Vault's lower levels were much more spartan, housing enough room and supplies to comfortably evacuate the surrounding districts in case of an ultimate peril.

Would've come quite handy in their first dimension if Cinder hadn't caved in the Vault

Actually getting to them was tricky with false doors hidden behind the ornate facade and stairways closed flush to the floor.

But the actual Vault component of the Vault was located on the entrance level, only protected by a small labyrinth. What looked like an ordinary dead end, was, in fact, the resting place of a Relic, and what looked like an ordinary wall, was an unknown material Weiss was hesitant to label metal.

Though why Ozpin gave them a map to its location was puzzling.

The man was an enigma, disappearing from their original timeline, only to visibly jump at the opportunity to help in this one. It did save them hours of walking around and testing odd locations so they shouldn't have been complaining.

Ruby stared at the unmarked section of the wall, only tilting her head in confusion as her shells refused to penetrate into the locked room, stopping exactly at the start of the wall. Whatever the material was, made it impossible to see into. When she placed her hand against it, she felt her Aura get siphoned out of her core, an intense cold creeping into her veins, a shudder traveling through her body.

"Well, that's an unpleasant feeling." When she tried to remove her hand from the wall, she found she couldn't, some force keeping her hand glued to the surface. "And that's even more unfortunate. I'm stuck."

It shouldn't have come as much a surprise, but her danger meter had long ago been broken and touching the potentially dangerous vault door didn't register. Placing a foot against the wall and pulling did nothing to help, and only increased the amount of Aura being pulled from her.

Weiss didn't need any prompt to spawn a glyph between her hand and the wall, careful not to touch the wall herself, but any Aura channeled into it was eaten immediately, not giving Ruby any chance to escape.

"In hindsight, it would've been a good idea to have a clone touch the wall first." Ruby deadpanned, causing Blake to facepalm at the simplicity of the idea. Considering how deep into the Vault they were in, there was no point in putting up a sign telling people not to the touch the siphoning door. "No point in making one now so, Yang, start transferring Aura before I become a shriveled corpse."

She didn't have any plans to die in the Vault, not before Cinder was dead and the Maidens were eradicated from the planet.

Letting out a sigh of relief once she was connected to Yang's massive Aura pool, her breath hitched as the siphoning speed increased at the presence of more Aura to feast on. Instinctively, Yang began channeling her Semblance inward, self-replicating Aura to replace the mounting loss.

It only served to yet again increase the amount of Aura lost, the pull proportionately reacting to the regenerating supply, outpacing Yang's ability to generate more.

"Yang, let go." Though her voice was barely above a whisper, Yang listened when her High Commander spoke, carefully disconnecting the tether. Rationally, she understood Ruby was cutting their losses, not willing to risk Yang when she was already stuck.

It was a tense few seconds as Ruby visibly weakened in front of them, visage paling and beads of sweat amassing on her forehead. Blake was ready to screw the consequences and cleave Ruby's hand off when the force holding her wife relented and Ruby collapsed into a barely conscious pile.

Rushing over to her, Weiss checked over her life signs, finding a weak pulse on her neck and barely reactive pupils. Yang crouched down next to her and began reinfusing Ruby with the remainder of her Aura.

"It's open," Blake remarked, but refused to touch the doors, creating a clone to inspect the seam of the vault. Concerned as she was, a third person hovering over Ruby wasn't going to help, especially with nothing to offer other than a comforting presence.

The clone leveraged open the two heavy doors, a blast of stale air washing over them. Once open far enough, it tested the door again for its draining properties, disappearing once it confirmed it didn't.

Sliding and flicking on the flashlight attachment to Gambol Shroud, she carefully walked into the vault. Within the tiny two meter cubed room, was a single pedestal with an evergreen wreath sitting innocently.

The urge to shoot it was near unbearable.

Another clone materialized to poke at the Relic, finding it to predictably react like any other laurel wreath. It tried not to convey a look of amusement back to its creator, picking up the Relic with the end of Shroud and bringing it out to the Vault.

Ruby was up to a sitting position using Yang to hold herself up, hair still limply sticking to her face, but with more color in her cheeks. Rei provided much-needed comfort, happily panting away in Ruby's lap with her bright red eyes piercing through the darkness.

The puppy was immensely confused at the presence of two Blakes, cautiously leaving Ruby to sniff curiously about the clone, finding no difference between the two scents. Blake picked the Grimm up and held her, taking a seat in front of Ruby, gesturing the clone to present the Relic.

Rei was instantly fidgety upon seeing the laurel wreath, growling as threateningly as a tiny puppy could be.

"I don't feel anything from it." Ruby placated the Grimm, brushing down her fur and scratching her into complacency. Her fingers ghosted the leaves, closing the distance with an Aura tendril, but continued to receive a response akin to a rock.

She grabbed it before Blake could react, snatching it away and waiting for the terrible doom to smite her, or for a godly amount of Aura or Semblance to invigorate her.

She got nothing, the Relic mocking her with silent contempt.

"This useless wreath is why Cinder needed the Fang? This is what hundreds of millions of people died for, a little crown meant to symbolize choice?" Exasperated and broken, incredulity seeped into her tone. "If I wasn't so tired I'd join you in plotting Ozpin's murder, but right now I'm struggling to not pass out."

Yang grabbed the wreath next, her Aura surging forth in a tidal wave to attack the Relic, feeling out for any structural weaknesses in its composition. Her Aura wrapped around the tiny leaves and the main stalk, searching and poking for any sort of crack or imperfection.

When Yang couldn't find any, a curious oddity for an apparently natural branch, she flexed her enormous pool and brought its full might against the Relic, barely noticing Weiss snap a protective dome around her in case she succeeded.

Still nothing.

No amount of recycled and amplified Aura resulted in any sort of reaction, the wreath refusing to be destroyed by Yang's ridiculously overpowered technique. In a fit of petulance, she threw it on the ground and stomped on it, again achieving nothing, not even grounding away specks of bark and a part of a leaf.

"It makes sense a reputed fragment of a god isn't easily destructible." Ruby snagged the Relic before Yang could stomp on it again, twirling it in the fingers, her own Aura reaching down her arm and seeping into the wreath.

Her genetic bloodline revealed nothing new, her Aura simply wrapping around in endless spirals in a vain effort. "Do I win the bet then?"

"There was no bet." Weiss rebutted, taking the Relic and placing it on her head, secretly hoping putting it on would reveal something they didn't know. "None of us are stupid enough to bet against your inane theories."

Mentally she ordered her teammates to strip down to the nude and commence a four-way in the dimly lit corridors but only received blank looks once she voiced her intentions, handing the wreath back to Ruby with no shame.

"What's the point of bets if none of us ever commit to them?" Yang pondered, feeding her Aura into Ruby until she was a quarter full, Ruby's Aural pathways constricting as the warm presence of Yang's natural warmth abandoned her, crying out for more.

"Because when one of us is wrong, it's intriguing and presents a new variable." Ruby forced her Aura to explode and circulate around, chasing the remnants of Yang's true Aura away, the fed converted neutral Aura taking on Ruby's distinct signature. "Last time I was wrong, we wiped Vacuo off the map."

Summer came out to play with a malignant grin, the alter relishing the memory of the rampant destruction and undiluted power flowing from Weiss and Yang down from Serenity in sub-orbit.

On her orders as the last High Commander of Beacon, the country of Vacuo had been obliterated in a firestorm created by a supermassive glyph, fueled by a volatile Semblance, and sustained by a regenerating Aura.

Blake smacked her for good measure, sending Summer careening back behind the mask of Ruby.

"So what do we do with an indestructible, but useless Relic?" Weiss checked her reflection in her scroll camera, preening at the contrast between the deep evergreen leaves and her bright white hair.

"You get an indestructible new tiara to wear. Congratulations." Yang helped pull Ruby up from the floor, grinning at the insult to the myth of a Relic. Since she'd taken Weiss' original tiara to hold back her own hair, Weiss hadn't worn anything as an accessory, mostly because she didn't need anything for her short hair.

"I can't fight with this on, but it'll make a nice accessory to my Vytal Festival Dance." Several months away and Weiss already had plans to order and creamy green satin dress, only to have Yang destroy it in a fit of sexual lust after they finished their dance. She was near drooling at how much money she'd drop on a pointless dress.

Ruby spun Crescent Rose from her back and slammed the vault shut, the doors sealing with an ominous pulse of silver, the seams disappearing within the wall. There was no point in putting the Relic back into storage when it was inactive and no one knew what it looked like.

And flaunting it in front of Ozpin would prove he either expected them to retrieve it to interfere with Salem's plans, using RWBY as pawns in his eternal chess game with his sister. And if he was enabling them to prove them wrong, then it'd be a nice surprise for him to see Weiss wearing it to class.

Just more variables in Ruby's own machinations on the world, still having to wonder which side Ozpin was on. Half the time he happily let them run amok with his policy of non-interference, and the other half he was the brilliant Commander who helped orchestrate the evacuation of the SDC's labor camps.

Ozpin and Salem played only with a rule of non-physical interference, never stepping down onto a battlefield, manipulating their pieces to fulfill their plans, Ruby and Cinder their respective queens.

A queen removing a queen would destroy both of their plans, and if Ruby's plans for the destruction of the Maidens succeeded, then they'd both be left scrambling, Ozpin losing his potential successor, and Salem losing her influence in the White Fang, leaving Weiss to eradicate the pesky terrorists.

With the Maidens gone, the Relics faded away from the grand battleplan forever, removing the danger of Salem for the meanwhile until she cooked up another scheme to prove her brother wrong, but as long as Blake took care of Rei after her death, she could be placated.

And Ozpin was more likely to be melancholy and depressed as Ruby ended his direct bloodline along with his Maidens. A just punishment for leaving RWBY alone in their first dimension, but Weiss was a more than capable replacement.

All the small pieces in her master plan were coming together.

* * *

On the western coast of Vale was a hole in the war Winter absolutely adored. Its dingy decor was a far cry from the usual upscale crap she got dragged to as a former Schnee, or as the next General.

It made her dates with Qrow exotic.

On bright early mornings, the bar/restaurant was desolate, but it didn't stop Winter from having to navigate around vinyl upholstery chairs and cheap tabletops to reach the deepest and darkest corner to find Qrow.

The man was sprawled along one side of the wraparound seating, legs spread wide in a comfortable position and a mug of mixed liquor in front of him.

He looked scruffy and ragged, hair having several more strands of gray hair along his temples and sides, and beard long overdue for a trim. His tired maroon eyes lit up into a warm crimson as he spotted her, a wry smile appearing on his face.

"You're late." Qrow greeted, Winter responding by running a hand through his hair, stopping to examine the gray hair so similar to her own. It looked good on him, adding contrast to his unnaturally dark hair, giving it character.

"And you let your beard grow." She moved her hand down to scratch at the thick stubble, enjoying the feel of the coarse hair against her knuckles. She suddenly moved from a gentle caress to running a sharpened nail across, cutting a swatch from his cheek and leaving him comically lopsided. "You know I don't like it."

"You call me in the middle of the night, demand I return from gathering information, and then don't even kiss me?" Qrow pulled her in by her hips, setting her to sit across his lap. She lightly giggled at the treatment, dodging his attempts to give her a kiss, preventing any escalation with a finger to his forehead.

He got a kiss on the nose for his trouble.

"You don't get any more until all of this is gone." She slid from his lap deeper into the bench, grabbing his mug and taking several large sips, causing Qrow to raise an eyebrow at the behavior. "And don't pretend your 'information gathering' is anything more than you stalking others in the dark, or hanging out in a shady brothel."

"Ooh? You're snippy." Qrow poked her on her waist, causing her to wiggle cutely at the tickling sensation. She batted the wayward hand away, slouching down into her seat, hair falling over her eyes. "And now you're sulking. Must be a hell of an emergency."

"Jacques Schnee is dead." Qrow's only reaction to the information was a slight widening on his eyes and a grimace. Winter made it no secret she disdained her father, but he didn't know whether she wished him dead or just never wanted to see him again. "I left James to deal with the Council once we found out, and then went directly here to tell Weiss."

"Should've phoned earlier. We could've gone and seen the kids together." Qrow chuckled at the wordplay. Ruby and Yang were the closest he'd ever gotten to caring for children, letting Tai be the caring parent and him the fun-loving one.

"Well, three of them were drunk, and Ruby was getting cuddly with Atlas' Most Wanted." Winter pulled up a photo of RWBY's room, showing the five occupants spread out in their own little groups.

He took her scroll and examined it, taking only moments to look over the only bed dominating the room, the seven bottles of high quality and proof alcohol on the floor, the intertwined Yang and Weiss, the puppy in Blake's lap, and the criminal attached to Ruby's back.

"Ruby doesn't have pink eyes." He zoomed in on Ruby's face, the glow sending a shiver up his spine. They were unnaturally bright, full on backlight illuminated, not like the Most Wanted girl's. "She had silver eyes when she was born."

"She definitely wasn't wearing contacts, but the last time we saw her was on Patch, and she was wearing reflective glasses, while indoors." She pointed out, stealing Qrow's drink again.

"That's… actually true." He leaned back into his seat, steepling his fingers and not bothering to fight for his mug again. His memory of his visit to Patch came to the front of his mind, reminded of the anomalies surrounding his daughter, from the confrontation on the roof and then her wearing the shades for breakfast.

In the weeks after their initial confrontation, Ruby remained adamant about keeping her sunglasses on, citing a ridiculous bet she made with Yang, and he couldn't fault her for wanting to practice low-light scenarios while honoring the tradition.

The small quirk had taken the backseat to her stubborn refusal to wear the cloak Summer had left for her, not even giving a solid reason, simply removing it from her usual ensemble of dress one day with no warning or fanfare.

Something must've happened to Ruby before the meeting on Patch, something which would've made her hide her eyes from her family and stop wearing the cloak. He didn't even want to think about her casual banter and knowledge about _Icha Icha_ , but Yang hadn't been thrown by any of the changes to Ruby, meaning she was a part of the secrets Ruby was keeping or was better at hiding her reactions to the changes.

Ruby could be dealt with in the short term with him dropping by for an impromptu visit, but the presence of _her_ attached to Ruby's back didn't bode well for anyone.

"The pinkette...did you get a name?" Qrow compared the eye colors of Ruby and the criminal's, finding them to be almost exact copies down to the shade save for the glow in the formers.

"Only a first name: Neo. She and Ruby were the only people coherent enough to maintain a conversation with. Blake was rather comfortable petting a puppy while Yang and Weiss double teamed me with an invite to a fivesome."

Qrow's brain shorted, hearing the words 'Yang', 'Weiss', and 'fivesome', subconsciously adding in 'Ruby', 'Blake', and 'Winter' into the mix. Winter sculled the rest of his drink away while his brain rebooted.

"I might have to talk to Yang about _boundaries_ with Ruby." His only daughter was two years younger than Yang, and his repressed father instincts came out in full force on the thought of Yang taking advantage of an impressionable Ruby, whether cousins or not. It took him another moment to connect the dots between 'Weiss' and 'Winter'. "And that's hot."

"Oh sure, it's hot when Weiss and I are in your fantasy, but when Yang and Ruby join in together, it suddenly ruins it." She teased, playfully pushing him away and making him fall off the end of the bench.

"Hey, when one of them is my daughter and the other my niece, I draw the line." Qrow staggered back into his seat, not noticing Winter heavily pale at the reminder Ruby was his. It made the next pieces of the conversation all the more frightening with his lackluster hold on his Semblance. "Why was this Neo there?"

He chose not to comment on the queasy and pitiful look she was shooting him.

"Ruby told me Neo was there just to impersonate Weiss to give her an alibi while the real Weiss snuck into Atlas and killed Jacques Schnee." Winter bluntly stated, taking Qrow's silence to mean he was digesting the information. "All on Ruby's order apparently, with Ozpin being notified as well."

"Hmm. Ruby's been worrying me ever since the summer. There's been something off with her for a while, and now this entire debacle doesn't sit well with me." Qrow took out his own scroll, connecting the vast information network accessible to him. Within seconds, he was in the Monty database and searching through the first years profiles until he found RWBY's.

Locked by Headmaster Ozpin.

Wasn't a problem for him as he typed in the password he had pilfered in his long and questionable career as a spymaster. Certain instances required he have access to sensitive information kept only within the highest ranks.

So it came as a shock his usual password was rejected, followed up by an instant message from the Headmaster taunting him for trying to get in, then inviting him to discuss the reason behind the seal on the file.

'Invited' was a kind word for when the Headmaster demanded his presence, but he wasn't going to bother verbally squabbling over the nuances of a word when he knew better and got away with more than most.

"Her files locked, but so is her entire team's. I can't even access Yang's." He briefly showed the screen to Winter before sliding it away. "If there's a problem with either her physical or psychological, then I can't check until I ask her or Ozpin."

"You think there's a problem." Winter voiced her thoughts in a statement.

"It's not the first time Ozpin has kept something from me, but it's the first time Ruby's actively keeping secrets from me." He stared dejectedly at his empty mug, bemoaning Winter had beaten him to his alcohol. "And now her association with this Neo brings even more uncertainties."

Winter stared at the empty mug in Qrow's hands, wincing at the prospect of him needing more when she told him exactly what she learned in the haze of a night.

"Ruby asked me to not arrest her, and in the interest of not causing a commotion and infringing on Ozpin's authority, I didn't. But it was also because Ruby trusted her." Winter stopped whatever comment or quip Qrow was going to throw it with a mean look. "Not once did Neo separate from her side until she left, and they were the only two not drinking, observing and managing the room."

"Ruby would trust anyone who smiled at her and called her a friend. She's just that type of person." Qrow chuckled, remembering the various situations Ruby would get into as a child due to such a nature, walking about town and talking to anyone who stumbled into her path.

"Not even Ruby would forgive the woman who killed her mother." Qrow's mug cracked without his touch as his tenuous hold on his Aura fell apart. He had almost missed her words while lost in his memories.

"What?" Qrow's ice cold voice washed over her, his teeth gritting in anger. His black Aura seeped out of their enclosed table and encroached into the small bar, cracking the wooden flooring and blowing out a few of the lightbulbs, his eyes glowing a menacing red in the darkness.

"Qrow…" Winter tried to console him, getting her hand slapped away from his shoulder with a malevolent tendril. A shimmering white armored knight appeared at her command behind Qrow and trapped him in a bear hug, dissipating Misfortune with the element of surprise. The knight's resolute hold prevented him from wiggling away.

She got an apologetic smile from Qrow, his Semblance instantly retreating back into its core, no longer having the anger or power to be sustained. For good measure, Winter ordered the knight to remain with its hands on his shoulders, preventing any more rash reactions. Qrow took several deep breaths, calming his mind in the face of the righteous anger held within him.

"What do you mean by 'the woman who killed her mother'? Summer died caught in an unreported humongous nest on Patch, not to this 'Neo'." Qrow's rational thoughts caught up to him, reciting the facts he had found on the site Summer had gone missing. With no body to examine, he could only conclude by the massive imprints of paws and claws into the ground she had been ambushed by Grimm. She had not gone quietly into the night, with dozens of black spots denoting the death of a Grimm peppering the clearing.

Grimm were not known for consuming human flesh, but with the little knowledge they had about them, he could only conclude she had been eaten. The thought this Neo had set Summer up and murdered her, while faking the incident, brought up a whole new series of events. It certainly explained the lack of a body.

"Ruby didn't say any more on the subject, but her response was neither positive nor negative. She held no anger or retaliation in her facial expressions, nor in her words or tone. She was remarkably stoic for a fifteen-year-old dealing with her mother's killer, telling me she trusted her. And by the state of the room, everyone knew Neo had killed Summer and didn't react either, willingly getting drunk and also trusting in her presence."

"These are not normal reactions of schoolgirls dealing with a trained assassin and thief." Whatever Ozpin was hiding in their files would hopefully give him the answers he sought, and if they didn't, he'd have to confront the team directly, but would be more advantageous to do so one on one.

He'd get his answers one way or another, and Neo would see hell if she had anything to do with Summer's death.

"On the other hand, I did confirm Neo stole the Mistral Diamond, and she didn't deny her involvement with the Great Vacuoan Casino Heist," Winter remarked on the odd piece of trivia she had learned. Nothing about the meeting had sat well with her. Everything she had learned had been manipulated in Ruby's favor, save the piece involving her mother.

"I don't like how Ruby and her team are involved with her." Qrow signaled the bartender to bring him a bottle of his favorite alcohol. He'd need at least this one and possibly another one for him to function properly after this meeting, and Winter wasn't going to fault him, agreeing with his sentiments.

RWBY was surprising them, and not in a good way.

* * *

The hazy purple pocket dimension of her Goddess never failed to bring about a sense of grandiose scale and amazement. The travel through the miasma of a portal was already an impressive feat of her powers, but seeing the hundreds upon thousands of Grimm toiling about the bleak landscape of her dimension was breathtaking.

Her scroll had gone off with a message from Roman's pet lackey, conveying a request from her Goddess to appear before her for an emergency meeting. A quick acceptance of the tug on her mind sent her careening onto the front steps of Salem's castle.

She was apparently the last one to arrive, her own two underlings in Emerald and Mercury standing to the side of her seat. Next to her was the leader of Vale's White Fang, the sadistic and disillusioned Adam Taurus. Next to him, to Salem's left side was the good doctor Arthur Watts, a man she knew little about but was told repeatedly he was a genius with technology and genetic manipulation.

Oddly enough, Neo sat to the right of Salem, her form hilariously puny compared to the large high backed chair she was in. The glare the midget was leveling at her was anything but, simmering malice concealed in her heterochromatic eyes, particles of reality wavering into and out of existence.

It was a far contrast from the smiling ice cream addict she had met weeks previous. Beyond quiet, she had let the meeting between her and Roman happen without incident while she monitored any threats to them, happily devouring tub after tub of her cold treat.

Salem had to actually tap a few fingers on the table to grab Neo's attention and have her settle down.

To Neo's right was an absolute unit of a man named Hazel Rainart. Again, she knew little of the man other than his role as a muscle man and spy within Menagerie.

"Cinder, how kind of you to join us." Salem greeted her, voice neither negative at her being the last or positive at her presence. "Given our last meeting was several months ago, I called you here to discuss the current plans and any possible alterations needed due to recent current events."

"What events if I may ask?" Watt's refined accent brokered the first response, being held in confidence as Salem's scientist and spy on Mistral.

"All in due time dear Doctor. For now, I want to get a scope of the plans we've put into place and decide how they may change. The virus, for instance, how goes it?" Salem graciously called her plans as if they had all had had input in them, but Cinder was all too aware of the righteous hubris the Goddess possessed.

"Slow, my Queen. The slivers of code Roman Torchwick and his partner retrieved are only fragments of a nearly impenetrable security network surrounding the CCTS towers but given a few more months, I'm sure I'll get it to work."

"Make sure it does and you'll be greatly rewarded." Salem succinctly replied, apparently satisfied with the slow but steady results of his work.

"Your gratitude is all I require." Watts humbly bowed his head and relaxed in his seat, his part of the meeting fulfilled. He may glad-hand and suck up to Salem for any smidgen of respect, but he was brilliant in his field and crucial in their plans concerning Beacon.

Salem nodded, gazing over to Rainart.

"Recruitment within Menagerie for the White Fang has returned to the steady trickle it had before the disastrous incident of Blake Belladonna's leaving." Adam had a mean frown on her face at the mention of her former apprentice but was nonetheless satisfied the movement was picking up. "That was until recruitment halted nearly entirely at the return of said Princess."

"What!?" Taurus growled out, his hand reflexively closing on around his sword.

"At the tail end of summer, Princess Belladonna returned to Menagerie to reconcile with her parents, causing an intense backlash against the White Fang. The majority of our recruits saw her return as an official denouncement of the Fang's militant status, especially given her the guest she escorted onto the island, one Weiss Schnee."

The handle of his sword broke at the rage coursing through him, the resurging thoughts and feelings of betrayal and resentment clouding his deluded mind.

"Her newfound friendship with the youngest Schnee has turned the younger generation to a new mindset, seeing Blake's acceptance of her as a new leaf in their legacy. It's also revitalized Ghira's generation to a return to non-violence, seeing her rejection of our militancy as a challenge to the change."

The reports from within the island nation were distressing, to say the least. Her return had thrown the intellectual climate into shambles, reintroducing the old episteme to the already uncertain people.

"With Sienna refusing to officially acknowledge our militant status, and her continued maintenance of neutrality within Vacuo, Mistral, Atlas, and parts of Menagerie, our factions are now slowly losing support from the Faunus, but, while opinions have changed, their actions continue to express a need for change, albeit more hesitantly in the face of growing change."

His articulation left little doubt in the concern he shared about the unexpected circumstances clouding Blake's reappearance and entourage. Their continued plans relied on Vale's Fang growing and sustaining their numbers, and if they were losing people and support, their plans could heavily backlash and cascade failure forward.

"Then the information I have to share bodes even worse for our plans for the White Fang to act as a force of strength and symbol for the equality you so crave." Salem paused for effect and Neo rolled her eyes at the blatant theatrics. Ozpin and her weren't so different. "Jacques Schnee is dead."

There was a short silence before Adam lost his composure and burst into dark chuckles, his previous ire forgotten at the news of the demise of the Schnee patriarch.

"I fail to see what is so amusing, other than your need for misguided revenge against the man almost single-handedly responsible for driving the White Fang's numbers up, fostering their military growth, and skewing the Faunus perspective against the four Councils."

"Jacques Schnee served his purpose with his rampant racism and propaganda against my people." Adam rebutted bluntly. "We've been trying to kill members of his family since before the Faunus Rights Revolution. Seems like poetic justice."

Neo flicked a rubber band at Adam's forehead, grinning maniacally at the red mark and vein popping on his skin, his upper lip twitching periodically.

"Are you aware of who exactly inherits the mega-corporation of Dust and Lien, along with the enormous influence the head wields on the Atlesian Council?" Salem's voice dropped its silky tenor and turned harsh and grim, the purple atmosphere surrounding the castle flaring deep purple and violet, the Grimm in the near vicinity abandoning their nests and fleeing with haste.

Neo struggled to contain her snickers, unaffected by the looming Aura and presence next to her. The rest of Salem's council began sweating profusely, their instincts screaming at them to escape from the oncoming dread steadily threatening to overtake the room.

This time, Neo prevented Salem from eviscerating her minions, booping her over the head with her parasol.

If Watts had any sort of control over his cognitions, his jaw would've dropped at the disrespect Neo was showing to her, and then further dropped straight from his skull when Salem only glared at her, instead of unleashing her hidden might.

"The company is set to be inherited by Weiss Schnee, the same girl on Blake Belladonna's team, the same girl responsible for the Faunus slowly turning away from your militancy, and now, if the girl is in any sense of the word smart, she will use the billions of Lien at her disposal to counter every point the White Fang has been using as an agenda. The only saving grace is the time period, solidifying our invasion of Beacon and crippling the Hunters."

Salem returned to her docile state, black lines receding into their natural states and crimson eyes dimming into a low glow.

"At this point in time, continue with your current prerogatives. Dismissed." Watts, Rainart, and Adam disappeared into individual purple portals before they could get a word in edgewise, leaving Cinder and her minions alone in the room with two drastically overpowered beings.

"Cinder, how goes the search for the Fall Maiden?" Cinder visibly and audibly gulped, Emerald and Mercury shifting idly behind her, looking very uncertain about their fates.

"There have been some reports streaming in from Adam's Fang and my own informants, but nothing concrete." Cinder's voice was meek, a sharp contrast to the usual feeling of confidence and cunning she displayed on the mortal plane. Salem only tutted, predicting information would be slow. "Most of the reports are false accounts either from mistaken sightings or from deliberate misinformation spread to conceal her presence."

"You'll need the power of at least one Maiden if you wish to stand against the Headmaster of Beacon and achieve your goal." A solitary Seer Grimm floated in from one of the open high windows, drifting down to Cinder's eye level. "I'm giving you command of a small squad of Seers to expedite your search. Best make sure you find her well before the Vytal Festival."

Cinder bowed her head in a show of deference, thankful Salem had granted her this boon.

"And speaking of the Vytal Festival, and more specifically on Beacon, there's a student you'll watch and report on." Neo slid a scroll over reluctantly, resenting having to follow Salem's commands for at least the short term. On it was a profile picture stolen from the Hunter database, along with some basic information regarding her team. "One Ruby Rose, the leader of the team containing both Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna interests me."

Cinder looked ready to protest at the simple and demeaning assignment until she remembered Salem was sacrificing part of her personal information network to help her find the Fall Maiden.

"Under no circumstances are you to threaten, engage, or kill this girl; only observe and report." A frown appeared on her face until the return of those murderous eyes silencing any words in her throat, a blast of Neo's Aura sent her spiraling deep into her seat, pressing her into her seat.

"Neo here has also taken an interest in the girl's wellbeing, and if you disobey my order, I'll leave you to her." Cinder quickly nodded, deeply terrified of the girl she had only known as Roman's partner until now. The absolute feeling of nothing permeated every inch of her Aura, surpassing any feeling of dread coming from the Goddess.

She was sent away with another purple portal, taking Emerald and Mercury with her, leaving Neo alone with Salem, two beings with tumultuous history at best.

"Another Silvereye threatening my plans." Salem sighed and relaxed into her seat, dropping the facade of the Goddess she wore during these meetings. "And yet you ask me to spare her when a mere century or two ago you helped me wipe them from the planet."

Neo tilted her head cutely, eyes flashing rapidly between pink, brown, and white before settling on Ruby's formerly silver eyes, distinctly lacking the warm glow characterizing life.

 _The girl has suffered similarly to me._ Salem took the words at face value, eyes widening at the truth behind her implication. _And she's no longer a Silvereye, willingly sacrificing the portion of your brother's Aura. She's done nothing wrong except play along with your and Oz's machinations._

"She's a curious anomaly, not entirely a surprise if she's indeed a monster on your level." Salem summoned the scroll Cinder abandoned on the scroll, pausing to look over the profile image of Ruby, her blank eyes hidden behind her shades. "Did you know she houses three souls within her body?"

Neo only nodded, causing Salem to frown at the realization she hadn't shared such info until she had brought it up herself.

"One is a creature of Grimm I apparently created personally for her, having both a sliver of my own Aura while also being attuned to the girl's. I've no recollection of ever giving one of my children away." She again got nothing but a head tilt from Neo. "And the other souls I'd be hesitant to classify as such, each being so tightly intertwined with each other, but with a noticeable divide between them; codependent but individual."

Neo's eyes lit up suddenly in a kaleidoscope of colors, running so rapidly between all the varying and distinct shades her iris nearly matched her sclera. Salem refused to comment on the miasma of emotional fragments dancing within the girl, but the smile on her face was definitely freaking her out, affecting the Grimm stationed around the castle as they detected a threat to their mother.

Neo's form exploded into thousands of microscopic shards reflecting the immediate environment and parts of her clothing and body. The collapsed after a brief moment onto the floor, revealing she was gone without a trace, no portal to indicate how she had left the pocket dimension, or if she had left.

Salem had read hope in Neo's eyes, a shudder of revulsion roaring up her spine.

 _Ruby Rose… who are you?_

* * *

Weiss was resplendent while wearing the Relic, the evergreen laurels resting delicately on the crown of her head, strands of pure white hair intermingling daintily with the immortal might of nature.

Glynda had only briefly glanced at the new addition to Weiss' ensemble from their adventure down into the vault, not knowing the significance of the item, nor the technicality of the Vault's opening. To her, the Vault was a safe refuge for the people they were sworn to protect in the event of a disaster, not a cover for housing a dangerous Relic.

Ruby smiled wryly at Ozpin's presence on top of his ivory tower, feeling his penetrating silver eyes following her every move, an extended elliptic shell notifying her he was watching over his Kingdom with a cup of cocoa.

She wasn't going to grace him with the answer to the great technical mystery regarding opening the Vault. He could happily believe Yang had destroyed the vault doors to access the Relic, had overpowered the security mechanism with her dense Aura, Weiss had cracked the seal, or Ruby had proven her genetic similarity to the Maidens.

Buying and selling information with Ozpin was a game and she'd use his burgeoning curiosity to extort mission requests to align with her major goals and operations. He'd fold over backward for an answer to a problem he couldn't solve, doubly so for his only living several times great-granddaughter.

With Neo still firmly within Ruby's manipulative hold, despite her suicidal last mission, Salem could be transitively coerced to follow along with their general objectives, or at least ignore their machinations. She may have her own goals to retrieve her Relics and win her macro-game with Ozpin by using his Maidens against humanity, but she was fiercely intelligent and devoted to her policy of non-interference.

Too much meddling with mortal affairs left Ozpin with the moral high ground, a slight she couldn't let him hold over her.

The little hope left within Ruby knew her death and the subsequent removal of the Maidens would leave Ozpin crippled at the sudden loss of fragments of his power. It'd also completely decimate any of Salem's standing plans to regain control of the Relics, permanently sealing them behind an impenetrable genetic lock.

Perhaps after her death, and the decimation of their game, the two would come together and reconcile.

The only caveat in her theory relied on Ozpin being weakened enough by the backlash of the destruction of the Maidens, proving a further theory about Aural Entanglement across identical sources. It meant Blake, Weiss, and Yang would intimately feel the pain of her death as her core self-destructed and resonated backward into her own fragmented pieces.

It was a necessary evil for RWBY to function without their leader with minimal loss in battlefield capabilities, while instantaneously shocking them through the physical and emotional pain and trauma.

It was, assuming, their ridiculous plan to fracture their cores and then transplant them to each other successfully. Theoretically, Yang would handle the removal, the transplant, and the healing process, her neutral Aura used as mortar for the differing shattered core fragments.

While not inherently dangerous in the scale of potential for physical destruction, the process of shattering cores wasn't a tested process, and neither was the procedure for repairing or transplanting an abstract supplemental organ.

Their gut instincts would lead them through the worst of the procedure, just as they had guided them through the worst of the Second Great War.

Ruby was set to fracture her core first, being the leader of the team and the mind behind the idea for the Core Consolidation, sitting in the center of their large bed in case she lost consciousness. Yang knelt directly her, hands placed on her back, avoiding brushing against Rei's cage.

Without an order, Yang slowly ran Aura down her arms and into Ruby's back, searching for the silver pulsating core within Ruby's chest. Though she couldn't pinpoint where Ruby's core was located on an MRI or CT, she felt her Aura latch instantly onto the familiar ball.

Confirming the tether, Yang sent an enormous rush of Aura into Ruby's body, her core compressing under the pressure. It fought against the increasing assault, rapidly compressing and decompressing in stronger and stronger pulses, forcing Yang to stretch Ruby's pathways to new levels.

Manipulating her Aura away from two opposite poles, Yang began wrapping band upon band around the equator of Ruby's core, forcing it to yield and part against her will.

Blake and Weiss watched the silent process, unable to feel the monstrous battle of Auras within Ruby, the evidence of any struggle being the whispered whimpers she released intermittently, the sweat beading on her forehead, and the blood streaking down her thighs as her nails searched for purchase.

A loud grunt and gritted teeth marked Ruby's core breaking under the continued pressure, splitting apart into near equal semi-spheres. Reaching deep into her core, Ruby found she could still access both halves equally and was able to freely move Aura between the two.

"That's only the first part Rubes." Yang brushed her sister's hair aside, wiping away her sweat with it. To have Ruby react to any smidgen of pain, especially after her internment, meant her brain had been screaming for relief, overloaded with the intense pain of her lifeforce getting split in twain.

The initial plan for splitting their cores would've forced Yang to perform precision surgery next, weakening certain areas of one of the halves until it split into roughly equal thirds, leaving Ruby with half of her original core, and one/sixth of her teammate's core each to level out the missing.

Unfortunately, it wasn't precision Yang had available, having focused more on rapid core expansion, her lack of control of her Aura allowing her to burn through her pool faster, and in turn, regenerate faster.

Ruby's hands left her thighs to grab onto a materialized Rei, the puppy eagerly stealing her master's pain and suffering away, her smoky form unaffected by her grip.

Latching the Aural bands on again, Ruby's core screeched under the coming struggle, unable to escape. Rei squirmed under Ruby's slowly tightening hold, using the energy gained to fight back and provide some comfort.

A violent release of Aura flooded through Ruby's body when her core broke again, leaving her with four equal sized quarter spheres, floating in the middle of the abstract void of her Aura network. In theory, her naturally occurring Aura would compensate for the loss of 75% of her core and work overtime to grow, proactively struggling against the three foreign cores which couldn't expand without external influence.

Undoubtedly, Yang breaking her core apart would be exponentially harder, not in any sense of skill or difficulty, but by the nature of turning her Aura against her own core. If Ruby struggled to keep her noises of pain silent, then Yang would wake the entire campus.

"Seal the room." Weiss instantly snapped a field on the walls, layering another set of glyphs on the window and door, doubly reinforcing the weak points. She watched Ruby place her hands on Yang this time, pity etched on her face.

Ruby was in charge of Yang's breaking, sending her Aura at the bright ball of orange fury locked within, pulling her sister's Aura into the process. It resisted, instinctively fighting against the coming process, but Ruby's iron will held the forming bands together.

Gritting her teeth, Yang's eyes turned bright red as the first crack on her core was created, a lance of indescribable pain rocketing through and leaving her numb. The tighter Ruby bound her core, the more noises she began to make, starting with a whimper.

It devolved into a full out panicked scream as her rational mind demanded she stop the process and escape the torture, but a set of glyphs on her hands and legs prevented her from leaving, forcing her to endure.

Ruby's recoiled at the immense backlash once the core split, her coiled Aura finally relaxing. Without giving an inch, she wrapped the next set of bands, ignoring her sister's hoarse pleas to stop. Thousands of bands bound the split core, each one just a smidgen tighter than the last.

Another volley of screams until Ruby forced the last band on, the core fracturing again, a wave of emotional relief soaring through the tether. Four immense quarter-spheres hung in the ether, each fragment about the size of half of her own core, Yang having gone insane in her training regime.

Weiss ran to Yang once the process was over, kneeling by her side and simply holding her. Yang chuckled in her caring embrace, the euphoria of no more pain washing over her, the worst part of the process over and done with.

Ruby began the next part, her Aura invading Yang's core again and wrapping around one of the fragments, beginning to unravel the dense package, pulling the thick strands into her own core, simultaneously transferring one of her fragments into Yang.

The disparity in training was soon obvious, Ruby's Aura network straining to accommodate the sheer amount flooding into her. Hundreds of Aura created rose petals materialized around the room, Ruby forced to burn Aura to accommodate the incoming flood.

In comparison to the fragment she gave up, Ruby's donated fragment was near inconsequential, a blank void of Aura waiting to be eagerly filled. Ruby, however, was intensely sore from the influx, core expanding, tearing, and then healing slowly until her network could large enough.

No complications, and only five more transfers to go.

Tomorrow would be the testing phase of Project Chimera.

* * *

 **AN** : Sorry this chapter took double the time to release, but semester has started and work is starting to pile up. Chapters will definitely slow down as both Ultimate and Crew ramp up, but I'll try and get some work done on the next chapters during some downtimes. Please be too disheartened, and remember, reviews and advice keep me going. Help me become a better writer.


	19. Normal

Chapter Nineteen

* * *

 **Normal**

* * *

Golden eyes watched her team destroy a clearing a few kilometers from Beacon. Not from any malice aforethought, but by the violent nature of Yang's Aura, now split between three Hunters with little to no control over it.

Which made the problem in the picture she was seeing incredibly obvious.

Yang kicked Weiss' ass left, right, and center, putting her through her version of hell in order to get used to using her new Aura and Semblance. She needed to get used to no longer controlling and manipulating the battlefield, but actively combating and repurposing the kinetic energy taken as damage.

Her own clone was training with Ruby's Semblance, thousands of black rose petals streaked across the grass, Rei running along behind in an effort to catch up.

Most of the time the puppy succeeded, pouncing on the fallen clone when it lost control over the acceleration and plowed into the ground to carve a deep trench.

Her real self sat in the tree Ruby took refuge under, passing the time by absentmindedly flipping a knife and then having it land on a branch in a particular pattern. She'd managed to get a very detailed carving of her personal emblem so far, despite her keen observations of Ruby.

Her wife wasn't one for meditation, preferring to avoid Summer unless she was desperately needed, but more often than not, she'd been letting her alter out with a greater range of freedom more recently. Weiss had taken the blending between the two as a sign of healing, Ruby and Summer working together and finally showing signs of her broken psyche healing.

But Weiss hadn't been there when she had had to retrieve Ruby from the Black Site, the actual minute details having been excluded from the report.

The Ruby she knew before her internment had been kind, funny, boisterous, and bubbly, a team leader happily set on fighting the constant swarms of Grimm plaguing her Kingdom. Ruby hadn't spoken any words when she'd come to rescue her, silver eyes reflecting her amber without change or reservation.

Unable to walk properly, she had had to assist her through the carnage she had left in the base, stepping over the various severed body parts and corpses left in the wake of her incursion.

The old Ruby would've flinched away and hidden within her cloak, closing her eyes until she'd been escorted out of the underground complex, but the new Ruby hadn't seemed to notice the massacre, plodding through the pools of thick blood with her bare feet, unashamed at her nude and scarred form.

Unbeknownst to her at the time, Ruby had no longer been in control of her body, having retreated into her mindscape to recover from her brutal torture, and given Summer the reigns, unleashing a psychopath on the world.

Where Ruby had been content with fighting a war against Grimm and Cinder, Summer decided any threat to her Hunters, or the people of Vale, had to be eradicated. Where Ruby had never been on an assassination mission and vehemently opposed them, Summer actively sought or planned them. Where Ruby had granted mercy to any White Fang or non-Vale combatants, Summer had brutally executed them.

Months of therapy had returned Ruby to a shadow of her old personality, but Summer had remained.

The new Ruby wasn't their old Ruby, and could never be. It was almost an insult to try and compare the two.

It made the sudden trial of Project Chimera all the more mysterious.

Old Ruby would've been ecstatic at the idea of sharing Semblances as a team, but Summer should've balked at the concept of sacrificing such an enormous part of their shared Aura and Semblance on a long shot theory.

From her own perspective, she was only fighting at 25% until she could learn and master the other three Semblances sharing her core. Her ability to run, train, and fight hadn't diminished from a purely Aura capacity standpoint, but the number of times she could avoid injury or death with her clones had been drastically decreased.

While Ruby and Summer could've been looking at Chimera through the practical point of view of becoming a larger team powerhouse, becoming utterly unpredictable on the field, it also highlighted the problem in the picture.

Their team didn't need to share Semblances as long as they had each other, which meant Summer was planning for the worst in the near future. As she wouldn't needlessly sacrifice her teammates, it only left the option of Summer willingly dying on the battlefield for a pyrrhic outcome.

Weiss and Yang were too optimistic when dealing with Ruby, naively believing Chimera was a return of old Ruby, or Summer acquiescing to old Ruby's whims, but she had seen Ruby at her worst, and there was no return from the sheer level of torture she had endured.

The only question now was why Summer decided her death was needed to end the cycle of war when in the previous dimension they had succeeded in crippling the SDC and were now succeeding in their new plans for this dimension.

Her scroll vibrated with an incoming message and she didn't need to look down to see who the sender was, Ruby typing away with the help of her borrowed Grimm eyes. Rei was left suddenly blind, having to rely on her superior nose to cutely stumble after her Blake clone.

 _You've been thinking in your tree for a while._ Ruby was actively keeping this conversation away from Weiss and Yang, raising another set of red flags.

 _I'm trying to figure out the reason behind Chimera._ She got a long text silence in reply, the only sounds in the clearing being Weiss eating dirt. Ruby and Summer didn't believe in lying to their teammates, preferring the terrible truth to false information. _This plan doesn't have any team or singular benefits, greatly reducing our capabilities in the short term and offering little in the long term._

Another long silence, Ruby having to figure out how best to misconstrue or alleviate the pessimistic viewpoint she'd come to.

 _I'm dying._ Two short words caused her to miss the branch with her falling knife, Ruby having to catch it as it passed through her shells. She barely got to look down before a blast of rose petals obscured her vision and Ruby was sitting across from her, precariously balancing on the branch.

Ruby handed her the knife back, her face a blank mask to her wife's accusing eyes.

"Summer is dying, the lack of conflict spurring her disappearance into my psyche, causing us to lose focus on the overarching objectives of this world." Ruby's voice was barely above a whisper, the light breeze obscuring and leaves muffling, but her feline ears heard the confession. "I will die with her, leaving either a shell of me or the crazed beast hiding behind Summer."

And it all made sense, Ruby not having to explain the consequences of either of the potential outcomes.

If Ruby and Summer both died and left their body behind comatose, the heartbreak would be devastating, all the vitals there but no soul to interact with; the interned Ruby before Summer's protection. And if they both died and left the monster behind Summer alone, with no impulse control or conscious, it'd activate Contingency Prune, forcing the other three teammates to kill their leader.

Ruby was being _kind_ to her, even letting her say goodbye before they'd be separated.

 _Prune will never be activated and I'll die the way Commanders are meant to, on the field where Summer can let loose and give our last to prevent Beacon's fall and end the game between Ozpin and Salem._ Ruby switched to sign as Yang and Weiss' spar edged towards them, Weiss getting sent into a neighboring tree.

 _And you don't want Weiss or Yang to know._ She briefly acknowledged her two brawling teammates, a pang of sorrow tempered by resilience. Ruby had to have had a reason she was only telling her and not the other two.

 _I don't need an overbearing Yang or emotional Weiss_ _stopping my plans, nor do I need them 'saving' me from my death._ Ruby's head turned slightly to the sparring pair, no doubt noticing the great series of explosions impacting against her shells. "We both know I should've never made it out of the Black Site alive, but you pulled me out and received two and a half years of a lie. Even if my estimates are wrong, it's time you let me go."

 _What do you need me for?_ Blake wasn't sure if she could keep the emotion from her voice while in front of her High Commander, resorting to sign to convey her message. If Ruby noticed any shimmer in her eyes, or hesitance with her fingers, she chose not to voice her concerns.

"In a few weeks, I expect Cinder to find Amber and begin planning the theft and assimilation of the Fall Maiden's powers." She nodded along, not concerned with remembering details for now. "I will let her kill Amber and become a Maiden, but both she and I will die on the field, and if my plan works, all of the Maidens will die and permanently seal the Relics into oblivion."

Her eyes widened at the potential chaos Ruby's plan would level on the world. With the Relics gone, the game between Salem and Ozpin ended, leaving only the mortal players, and Neo, on the field. And with the future Queen of Vale dead, it left the White Fang with absolutely no political influence, and potentially avoided the entire Beacon invasion.

 _And there is no other way in your convoluted mind to end this way without you martyring yourself?_ Blake knew the potential of swift and decisive actions in war, having completed and failed her fair share of missions in the first dimension. But these decisions always had unforeseen consequences, consequences she knew Ruby and Summer both knew and kept track of when planning them.

"There are hundreds of ways to potentially end this war given the extent of our abilities and knowledge of future events, but there is a near guarantee by the summer equinox I'll be dead by either euthanasia or Prune." Ruby's voice barely inflected as she spoke, monotone on a proud display. "I will not die by your hand or on a hospital bed."

Ruby knew her team well enough to understand only Blake had the resolve to plunge the knife into her heart, understanding Prune's primary directive wasn't to suppress a psychotic Summer, but to alleviate Ruby's suffering if she ever got to the point of no return. It was the collateral from Prune's directives preventing Summer's possible rampage from unnecessarily slaughtering combatants.

Dark feline ears twitched cutely in response to hearing distinct pride color Ruby's tone. It went beyond pragmatism and bordered on fear. Understandable response from anyone with how bleak a fate Ruby painted, but not one of her responses to dealing with a suicide mission. Those were taken with a savage glee to prove the mission rating wrong.

This occurrence of pride, an emotion, could've been a sign of healing and a return of the old Ruby, but the ultimate roadblock was her imprisonment, Ruby's personality being stripped away piece by piece, hour after hour of brutal and unspeakable torture.

Emotion was a return to personality, but this terrifying reality meant the mental blocks Summer erected with her creation were cracking, slowly releasing a broken and shattered Ruby back into the world. That Ruby was buried deep behind both mask-Ruby and Summer, the personas deeming her a useless asset best kept covered.

Her return was a far worse occurrence to the team than her death. All the work they'd put into reconstructing Ruby would be gone to waste with nothing but a shell of their High Commander left. Better to mourn the leader they could respect and follow than the comatose torture victim.

 _How terrible of a wife and teammate must I be to not fight against your decision?_ Ruby smiled sadly at her confession. This wasn't a smile brought on by carnage or by Ruby faking one, but a smile brought on by Blake choosing to follow and respect her decision.

From an utterly utilitarian perspective, Ruby dying in combat to achieve an overarching objective to cripple the main belligerent in their war was a positive outcome where one death saved possible millions, but the argument for such clashed with the ethical morals of the rest of the team.

But Ruby's drastically shortened lifespan would blunt the blow Weiss and Yang received when Blake told them of her plans to leave an impression in the world by ripping the last fragments of gods from the mortal plane.

Emotions would wage battle with reason until they were all petered out and broken from the ordeal, and they would need to disappear from the public sphere of Beacon for a while until they recovered, if at all.

"Upon my death, command of the team will turn over to Yang, and you'll become the executor of my will for any and all matters pertaining to my death." Becoming Ruby's executor didn't surprise her with the level of trust shown from her, but Weiss should've succeeded as team leader, not Yang.

Blake tilted her head.

"Yang is the only team member not overloaded with duties to either the SDC in Weiss' case or to managing a spy network, in your case, among the two largest responsibilities. She'll resent the post, but it'll be your job to help her, and each other, cope." Such casual disregard for her own life and such trust and belief RWBY would endure without her. "The official decision for her installment is up to the remaining team, but she's your best alternative."

She nodded, getting shaken from her thoughts by an incoming message to her scroll. Browsing through the contents, she confirmed the informant's tags and picked out the most important bits of information. Rather than a standard information report, it was a consolidation of other reports to grant an insight into possible enemy movements.

This one brought together some twenty odd reports from the south-east districts of Vale, noting the mass purchases and movement of raw materials, suspected Faunus members, and construction equipment, only to disappear weeks later.

The reports from outside Vale near the districts noted the interesting lack of Grimm on the border.

Though months away, the assault from Mt. Glenn was firmly written down on the team calendar and this report gave them enough credibility to petition Ozpin for a mission into the condemned district, and the information Ruby had to bribe Ozpin with guaranteed the request.

She handed the scroll over to her leader and watched her luminous pink eyes move to read the contents, coming to the same opportunistic conclusion. Taking the information, she took the next few minutes to draft a proposal to send to the Headmaster, signaling her wife to descend from the tree and stop the spar.

Blake directed her clone to cut through the field and intervene in the fight, stepping into a surprised Yang's stance and flipping her onto her back, granting Weiss a reprieve from the veritable onslaught from the juggernaut. From her position on the tree, she could watch as Yang broke Weiss hundreds of times and slowly taught the control mage the basics of martial arts.

Years of battling from a distance with her glyphs and never getting injured from her fighting style resulted in Weiss having the skills of Signal recruit when it came to CQC. Her previous training with her blade offered her a great increase in agility but did nothing for her strength.

 _We have a mission to Mt. Glenn._ The clone echoed its creator's words before bursting into a pillar of flames, making the two jump to their feet and scramble to the tree their leader sat in.

Ruby fell backward off her branch and landed in the midst of them while tapping away at the scroll, finishing the mission request with her clearance codes before sending it off to Ozpin. Like her, Ozpin didn't appreciate fluff or bullshit in reports, preferring short bullet points with the relevant info.

Wrapping her Aura around her team, Ruby dragged her team back to Beacon, mindful of the tear from Blake's eye-catching on her shells.

* * *

"Ah, Ruby. Just the leader I wanted to see." Ozpin greeted as she stepped off the elevator, one of his holographic screens displaying the earlier forwarded mission proposal. The others cycled through the various spy reports cited in the report, highlighted chucks briefly flashing before being replaced.

"Hey kiddo." Qrow also greeted from his place on the couch, his face morphed into an annoyed grimace from his time spent in the office already, apparently waiting on her. "Imposing outfit."

Her bright school uniform forgotten, she was decked in her black-ops outfit consistent of black denim tucked into mid-calf boots with a pouch on each leg. Her vambraces trapped the lengths of her plain black turtleneck with face mask combo. With fingerless combat gloves and her sunglasses, the only color she wore was on the tips of her hair and on Crescent Rose.

"I haven't yet approved your request for the mission." Ozpin sighed, taking a long sip from his mug to stall for time. Qrow lifted his head from his position on the couch at hearing the prospect of Ruby requesting a mission and not focusing on her school work.

"What mission?" He asked, turning to sit up.

"Irrelevant. My team deploys whenever I return, with or without your approval." Ruby ignored Qrow's question and his subsequent creeping up behind to unnerve her.

Her response to the Headmaster's comment stunned Qrow, the blatant disrespect, and disregard for his authority bringing him up short.

"The line you crossed with your stunt with Jacques Schnee is so far behind you it's over the horizon. Keep pushing and the earlier threat of a court-martialing becomes real." His eyes momentarily flashed a deep silver, reminding Ruby who exactly she was dealing with.

"What did you do?" Qrow poked Ruby in her side, expecting a more visible reaction than a twitch of an eyebrow.

"I threw him into the wall over there and broke his ribs." She didn't need to point to the stretch of the wall she had used, Qrow having already pestered Ozpin about the decorative radial crack.

"I thought that was Glynda's doing." Qrow quipped. "Glynda once threw him through one of these windows."

"Qrow." Ozpin cut any further sentences off with the patented look all Commanders knew.

"Approve the mission and I tell you exactly how we retrieved _it_." Ruby offered, throwing out the first of many pieces of information the Headmaster hounded after.

"No." The hard negative didn't come as a complete surprise, causing Qrow to rapidly shift gaze between Ruby and Ozpin to watch the start of an intellectual battle. "I can deduce several theories of how you retrieved it and don't care."

Ozpin's denial about the Relic was either the ballsiest bluff Ruby had ever seen, or he truly gave no fucks about the wreath, knowing its uselessness, other than bait, in the grand scheme of his manipulations.

"I keep you in the loop about any future undertakings RWBY takes, _and_ Qrow gets to shadow us for the duration of this mission." Ruby proposed, elevating the bribery to mid-tier level, angling to satisfy both Qrow and Ozpin with their wants. She knew why Qrow was there and was offering to take him out of Ozpin's hair while potentially giving him more information with an inside man.

She knew she had him when he took more than three seconds to decide upon the proposal, his hand leaving his mug to steeple with his other.

"What do you mean _I'm_ the one shadowing _them_. They're the first years here." Qrow whined pitifully. "And I don't even know what this mission is."

"The only reason you're in Beacon is because Winter told you about Neo, and the only reason Ozpin is trying to get rid of you is because he doesn't want to deal with you. Realize we're both manipulating you and suck it up."

Qrow harrumphed dramatically, pouting neither of the people in the room were on his side. He was smart enough to realize Ruby had manipulated Winter to bring information to Qrow, and knew Ozpin wasn't going to entertain his nosy shenanigans, especially not after the mysterious _it_ Ruby had mentioned.

"I'll go if you give me access to Team RWBY's records." Ruby blinked, unaware Ozpin had restricted their files from apparently anyone not him. She blinked again before facepalming at the reasoning.

"You're an ass, Oz." Ruby insulted, realizing he didn't want to deal with the fallout contained within their files. Ruby offering to take Qrow let him experience the nature of the team before he got into their psychological profiles. "Give it to him."

She couldn't fault him. It'd be exactly something she'd do if she was still in charge of the Hunters.

Her plan had been to deal with Qrow when he came to visit, but clearing and retaking Mt. Glenn was a foothold they needed to deny the Fang. She'd have to use his presence as an advantage to soften the reports, and prevent his interference with the mission.

"I know you can't, little Rose." She wanted to wipe the smirk from his face. "Approved, good luck, and I have a gift for you."

She caught a small item passing through her shells, examining it with her fingers, judging it to be circular. Through the shades, Ozpin caught the momentary glow of pink, his eyes instantly narrowing in suspicion at this new turn of events.

She saw her own masked face it Remnant's fractured silver moon.

"I hate you." Ruby attached the emblem to her sleeve, stalking back towards the elevator and leaving Qrow staring dumbfounded at Ozpin. He undoubtedly knew the meaning of the fragmented moon patch. Ozpin got a middle finger as the doors closed on the pair, making him chuckle.

"Did you- just- what-?" Ruby unlatched Crescent Rose and unfolded the blade to gently pull Qrow along with her, only his passive shield preventing his bifurcation. His eyes remained fully glued on the silver metal of the emblem, words failing him as the snazzy elevator jingle played in the background.

Ruby continued pulling Qrow out of the lobby once the elevator landed and across the courtyards to the landing pads, getting a few odd looks due to her passenger and her blackout outfit.

Through her furthest away shell came the form of a bullhead, three familiar Auras held within its hold. Coming into for a slow landing as they walked to the center onto the pad, the slide doors opened, revealing a waiting Blake and Weiss with hands outstretched.

In one smooth motion, Ruby threw Qrow into the fuselage and grabbed hold of Blake's hand, letting Weiss direct Qrow with a few well-placed glyphs, using her free hands to slam the door shuts. Yang throttled back up, launching back up into the air and angling the craft south-east.

Blake observed Qrow, his upside-down form slumped onto his neck awkwardly, red eyes observing the Princess in return. He received a nasty complication as the craft banked, getting thrown into the opposite door while the three girls observed him, anchored to the metal flooring with pairs of respectively colored glyphs.

"I didn't realize you could color the glyphs individually." Qrow picked himself up, rubbing his sore neck and grabbing one of the overhead straps for stability. He took another moment to take in the appearance of the three girls, all decked out in similarly colored and styled outfits complete with heavy duty boots, gloves, and face masks. "And I guessed I missed the memo about the dress code."

Both Blake and Weiss turned to Ruby, taking note of the new silver addition to her outfit, waiting for their leader to speak and notify them of the change in plan.

"Qrow is here to shadow us as part of the concessions to approve this mission," Ruby stated loud enough through her face mask for Yang to hear from the open cockpit. "And you, " specifically turning to Qrow, "as your superior, are only to observe and interfere when needed."

Ruby's firm tone and blank face left little for argument, a shiver freezing up his spine and spreading to his extremities. This was not his Ruby, not in any sense the little girl he knew before their rooftop meeting so many months ago.

"By Beacon's laws, I am now the successor to Ozpin and the presumptive High Commander in the event of a war." Ruby paused, answering the unspoken questions from her subordinates. "And the colored glyphs are a new technique from Weiss."

With how ridiculously experimental the Chimera procedure was, it was no surprise to the team their leader was keeping it from the prying eyes of Qrow and Ozpin. With no paperwork, digital or handwritten, any evidence of the operation was safely locked within the minds of the team.

Her teammates echoed their acknowledgment with a unanimous 'sir', deeply freaking Qrow out about the ease they accepted the great change in their leader's status or if they even knew the sheer meaning of Ruby becoming Ozpin's successor and High Commander.

"Brilliant technique. Really shows off the team unity." Qrow sarcastically drawled, taking a sip of his alcohol to soothe his nerves. "But are any of you quite aware of what exactly Ozpin's stupid stunt means for the future of Beacon, and its relations with the other Hunter factions?"

"I'm well aware of what and who the High Commanders of the Great War were and the current role they play in wartime situations, along with the gravity of Ozpin choosing a fifteen-year-old, first-year team leader as his successor, but I also know he understands the ramifications of his actions and will keep this under wraps until the worst comes to pass."

Ruby's monotone was unwavering, her shielded eyes boring deep into crimson eyes.

"Please stop this. This isn't you. Ever since the summer you've been acting weird. More weird, more cold, more… not you. And the rest of you, especially you, Yang, aren't helping or even noticing." Qrow rounded on his blonde niece standing in the doorway to the cockpit, eyes widening at the drastically shortened hair on her head. "None of you are. Especially not with the cruel disregard you all show for the execution of Jacques Schnee, not to mention your apparent friendship with Neo and what she has done or the _singular_ bed I learned you all share."

His voice was up a notch, nearly yelling at the occupants of the fuselage, but no member of RWBY dared make a move or speak before their team leader addressed the issue, looking to her for guidance.

They got only an inkling of a warning as Ruby unleashed the Aura of a High Commander onto Qrow, the expanse of a void bearing down with full force onto his volatile Aura.

But even Misfortune failed against the ensuing pressure from the psychopath standing in front and actively squashing him down, forcing him down to his knees at her feet. Through the haze of fear shrouding his narrowed pupil, he could see Ruby stalk up to him, her teammates watching the exchange, seemingly unaffected by the crushing presence.

"You have the right to question the missions I take, and the allies and friends I make as your role as spymaster demands, but you do not have the right to question the intrapersonal relationships I keep with my teammates." Ruby not raising her voice made the experience all the more terrifying. "Who and how I sleep with anyone is a matter kept within the team and not for your amusement or scrutiny."

Ruby relaxed the invisible binds holding Qrow down, the spymaster gasping for a breath of unrestricted air. Never in his life could he imagine Ruby of all people holding him down with pure Aura pressure.

"Damn kid, only a few months and you've grown so much." Qrow chuckled, batting away the incident in good humor. "I might not understand why you've pursued a relationship with all of your teammates, why Yang or why she's let you, or why the rest of you are allowing it, but don't come crying to me when you get hurt."

"You do realize at some level we're all masochists, meaning we're constantly getting hurt in our relationships." Ruby answered, much to Qrow's surprise and shock. Weiss was already hiding her face within her _Icha Icha_ and ignoring his reactions.

"That's… not what I meant." Yang snorted back a chuckle at Ruby's lost expression. The notion of them hurting each other for training or pleasure didn't register in her mind. Shaking the naughty thoughts out of his mind, he focused on the issues Ruby was willing to talk about. Interestingly enough, the issues he'd deem inconsequential were the ones she refused to discuss and vice versa. "Tell me why you ordered Jacques to die?"

"We needed his money and influence away from anti-Faunus groups and the Council." Ruby started, voice returned to a more stable monotone and Aura finally petering down to obscurity. "I know you know of the rumors surrounding the company, including their practice of Faunus labor camps, and they were all true, up until a week ago when Jacques died and presidentship of the company was ceded to Weiss."

"The day after, she quietly bought her company back from the stockholders and, while it cost several hundreds of millions of Lien, she now has full control over the entirety of the SDC's assets, including the thousands of Faunus slaves slowly being moved to Menagerie thanks to her improved relationship with the Belladonna family."

Nothing within his information network had revealed anything concerning the multi-national super-corporation. Any news concerning it was oddly quiet, but the Council must've been keeping the events under wraps for the protection of the family and the economy of Atlas.

"Too long the Fang has been supplied by fanatics on a crusade against the lack of Faunus rights laws and too long has the SDC sat as an obstacle to the passing of those laws, using its political and economic reach to influence the four Councils. With the Fang's growing militarism, we have a right and prerogative, as a group of people powerful enough, to change the status quo."

"No, no you don't. You're a team of Hunters, put together to hunt Grimm, not a kill squad in the middle of a war."

"And such is the difference between the spymasters and the leader. You infiltrate and gain information, but the decision to use the information isn't up to you. At least Blake understands she has to get her hands dirty."

Ruby's word clicked a set of gears in his brain he'd forgotten to use, his eyes widening to gaze at the incognito Faunus passively returning the stare.

"You! You're the Faunus I've been tracking for the last few months across three different continents and fifteen, FIFTEEN, questionably-oriented bars across Vale." Blake looked remarkably nonplussed at the accusation, blinking slowly. "Winter had a great time when I told her where I was tracking you through, and you've been sitting prettily at Beacon this entire time."

"You don't sound angry."

"Angry?! I'm too surprised to be angry at the goose chase she sent me on. Do any of you realize how extensive her network of informants is? She has people within Vale's Council, within their military, and within the other three city-states..." Qrow cut his rant short at the four blank stares he was receiving. "...and...none of you seem to care…"

"When I give orders, my teammates listen." Ruby bluntly stated. "While your network focuses on the threats to Beacon from inside conspiratory and outside Grimm forces, Blake's network focuses on impeding Council decisions and relaying information on the White Fang."

"How? It's taken me years to establish my network in Vale, and I get shown up in less than six months by a green Hunter two decades my junior." He could understand the need for Blake to keep tabs on her old organization, and couldn't fault her.

"The loyalty of the Faunus to Menagerie and the money of the Schnees." Ruby short answer was the truth to Blake's methods and, the answer Qrow was looking for, tying together the recently unveiled machinations of the team. Somewhere along the lines, Ruby had decided hunting Grimm wasn't a priority, but interfering in the socio-political climate of Remnant was.

It didn't interfere with her goal of defending the people of Vale, the unseen threat of the Fang and Cinder firmly in her mind.

"You came to Beacon to be a Hunter. You all came to Beacon to be Hunters from the applications I read, not assassins and spymasters." Qrow sighed dejectedly.

"Only Yang and I got into Beacon to fight Grimm, and I only got in because of my skills dealing with Roman Torchwick. Weiss chose to go to Beacon for a measure of independence and Blake did to escape her past and hide, and yet none of us have any desire other than to protect the people of Remnant, be it from Grimm, the Fang, or the SDC."

"And that's how you justify executing Jacques Schnee? That's how you justify working with a person like Neo, the same woman who killed YOUR mother, MY Summer!?" Qrow returned to raising his voice steadily. "Because your 'might makes right' mentality leaves room for unbound abuse and is definitely not how Tai raised you."

"If I have the might to change the world, and I choose not to, then I'm far worse, in my own eyes, than I am for using it." Ruby didn't rise to the bait of raising her voice in return, keeping her ever-present calm facade. "I was given a choice when this team was put together. To put to use the might of Menagerie and the SDC towards a positive outcome, or let the Fang and Jacques continue unchecked and cause strife to millions."

Qrow looked around to see if any of Ruby's teammates disagreed with her ideology, reasoning, or actions but found no sympathetic eyes in the crowd. This didn't look to be a green team struck by an indecisive leader or lack of direction, but a veteran squad willing to cast aside societal norms and make the decisive actions needed to drive change.

"I can accept you growing up, can accept your reasoning, can even accept your odd relationship with your sister and teammates, and can even accept Ozpin has greater hidden designs on your team, but I can't, in any way, shape, or form, accept you working with Neo." He was taking every new change with RWBY in stride, given all the shocks. "She's an extremely dangerous criminal wanted in four Kingdoms for a litany of charges ranging from the petty theft of ice cream to the assassination of an Atlesian General."

"I won't defend her actions, but I'll defend her skills on the field and her usage of her extremely flexible Semblance. She's a devastating asset we can't afford to alienate as a partner to Torchwick." Ruby stepped up to Qrow, staring up at his crimson eyes through shaded black, face mask hiding her lower facial expressions. "You want to take your revenge against an S-rank psychopath? Be my guest, A-rank spymaster, but when you get hurt, don't come crying to me."

Qrow resisted to urge to break eye contact, Ruby's protected eyes unnerving him beyond explanation. Those mirrored shades prevented him from seeing Summer within her, Ruby continuing to refuse to remove the sunglasses for any reason.

"She killed Summer." Qrow croaked out, and Ruby nodded. "That's enough reason to hate her."

"Hate her all you wish, but if and when you're both on a mission, your differences are to be set aside. If you want to question her yourself, I'll set up a sparring match so she can kick your ass while monologuing, and maybe you can get some measure of closure."

"Yes, sir." Qrow's instincts kicked in before he could register he was deferring to his daughter, which played it off by scratching the back of his neck and avoiding her furtive gaze. "Thanks...I think."

"Don't thank me too quick." Ruby stepped away and signaled for an update from Yang, receiving a five in return. "Not with what you've signed up, and especially not for the mission you're getting dragged on."

"I'm sure I can handle any nest of Grimm alone, but since I've been 'allowed' to shadow you four and been given explicit orders not to intervene, I can only watch." Qrow looked towards the front of the bullhead, eyebrows furrowing. "Frankly, you chose a bad time to leave with night falling."

"Makes retaking Mountain Glenn all the more challenging." Ruby checked over her weapons, already knowing Crescent Rose and her twin knives were impeccably maintained, ignoring the doubletake from Qrow. The craft jolted as Yang brought the engines down and set down on a clearing a good distance from the borders of the expansion per their standard protocols. "My order of non-interference still stands Qrow."

"Mountain Glenn is a suicide mission Ruby." She didn't react to his comment and looking around, no one else did, faces hard set with determination and resolve. "I don't think you understand the level of infestation there. An A-rank team would struggle against the consolidated nests in this expansion, and you four, with only some experience with Grimm, can be classed as B-rank at best."

"Oh, ye of little faith." The cool night air washed over the fuselage as Weiss opened the bay doors and they stepped out onto the grass. Absolutely nothing but foliage brushed across Ruby's shells and Yang helped point her in the direction of Glenn, her outermost sensory shell unable to reach any defining traits of civilization.

Qrow grabbed Ruby's arm to grab her attention, and to no surprise of her team, Qrow had to snatch his hand back from an errant knife. Ruby seemed to not notice her own actions, Qrow rubbing away the blow to his passive shield.

"You can't expect me to leave you alone to deal with hell on earth." Ruby knew Weiss wanted to smack Qrow for such a comment. He knew nothing of hell, having sat back during the entirety of the Faunus Rights Revolution in his detached and emerging role as spymaster.

Hell had been the fall of Beacon.

Hell had been the death of High Commander Qrow.

Hell had been Ruby's capture and subsequent downfall into Summer.

Hell had been the razing of Remnant by the Primordials.

"You have your orders. Form up." Weiss and Blake fell in line to stand by Ruby's sides with Yang bringing up the rear to form a diamond with Qrow awkwardly standing outside them. Ruby allowed her Aura to seep into her shells, wrapping around the team, passively reaching into her split core fragments for charge.

Team RWBY shot out of the clearing and into the treetops, Qrow getting left behind in a hail of multi-colored rose petals. Landing hard on a branch, Ruby leap onward, relying on the true sight granted by her extensive vision network to navigate, Weiss' glyphs being too bright to use in the covert environment.

Qrow trailed along within her rear shells, struggling to catch up with the accelerating team until they alighted on a tall tree on the border of a cleared perimeter marking the borders of the failed expansion.

A spotlight illuminated a pair of nondescript masked guards standing around a door with assault rifles strapped around their soldiers. A cursory glance revealed no camera watching the entrance to the building, but also revealed no blind spots to approach the pair.

"Interesting." Qrow landed on the branch next to Ruby, jostling the leaves more than they would've liked. In the rapidly falling sun, they weren't yet completely wrapped in darkness, but the distance saved them from notice. "They shouldn't be here."

Ruby removed Crescent Rose and handed it over to Yang, pulling out her two hidden blades from within her vambraces. Her team understood the unspoken command, but Qrow simply watched Ruby forego her main weapon and draw two previously undisclosed knives.

"What -" A shower of rose petal cut off his next words, his confusion further compounded by the lack of response by the remaining team members.

He got his answers as a blur of petals rocketed towards the pair of Fang guards, making them raise their guns at the suspicious entity rapidly closing in on them.

There was nothing they could do as Ruby appeared in between them, her first blade already moving to cut one guard's throat while her second went flying from her offhand to embed into the other's. Summer relished the gurgle of blood rushing down into their lungs, the sounds pleasing enough to keep her within the mindscape and not fighting for control with Ruby.

The bodies fell prone onto the ground and she extended her shells to their utmost maximum, using the new addition of a spinning plane to scan the area within the largest sphere. An initial pass revealed nothing on the top level of her quadrant, but a second pass showed several Aura's underground moving about.

Ruby transmitted an all clear with a single tap on her nearly indiscernible earpiece, finally causing her team to move and sprint across the clearing to join her, landing to stand at attention awaiting further orders.

"Ruby- what- what are you doing?" Qrow landed heavily beside his daughter, unable to look away from the bloody corpses of the two humans she had brutally ripped through without thought and with ease. "This is not what the mission is about."

"The mission proposal approved by Ozpin specifically dealt with a threat to Vale by the White Fang, not by the large Grimm infestation within." Ruby took one of the Fang member's masks and handed it over to Blake. "You believed the mission was to deal with Grimm and I never corrected you."

"This mission is over Ruby. Orders or not, I'm not enough of a mindless peon to let you actually complete this deranged mission." Qrow tried to get Blake to not put on the mask with a hand but she ignored him, hiding the top half of her face with an intimately familiar echo of her past, his other hand resting on the hilt of Harbinger. "I've disobeyed enough orders in my life, but at least this time I'll happily take the punishment I get from Ozpin once I punch his lights out. Team RWBY, stand down."

The dark miasma of Qrow's Aura flickered in visible space, black tendrils seeping into the ground and surrounding wall, charring them. Ruby simply reached for her scythe still in Yang's possession and held her ground.

"Team RWBY…" She unfurled her weapon, the intricate mechanism working to reveal the huge serrated blade and sharply hooked butt. The huge mass balanced delicately in her hands, ready for use. "...you have your orders. Dismissed."

The three of them jumped away from the confrontation, each bound for a different sector around the Glenn and its underground base, leaving Ruby to face off against her father. He tried to follow the escaping team, but with Ruby teleporting into his every possible path, he was grounded.

"Ruby, tell your team to come back. We're going home." He fingered the trigger to the shotgun component of Harbinger, the tension in the air steadily rising as Ruby joined him with outputting Aura pressure. Caught unawares last time, he pressed back resolutely, his Semblance blowing up a street corner.

"So caught up in your game of information across Remnant, you're terrified of taking any action. When was the last time you went out onto the field instead of sitting back in the dark?" Her words were true. This Qrow was not her High Commander, a man tested engagement after engagement, a force on the frontlines of the war. And until Blake took over his role as primary spymaster to Beacon, he never would. "It's easy to sit back and criticize actions, but rarely do words alone work in reality."

"If my words and orders don't work with you, then maybe kicking your ass into the ground will." He ground out, eyes flashing the characteristic Branwen crimson, pulsing with unrestrained rage, Misfortune reacting to his roaring emotions.

Ruby's answer was to smile ravenously behind her face mask, Crescent Rose humming dangerously in her grip, the weapon sensing the coming battle. Her Semblance soared into manifestation, a tornado of rose petals protecting her from the tendrils of negativity.

* * *

Blake disengaged from Yang and Weiss without a sound, dashing over to the other side of Glenn to begin her infiltration. Her plan revolved around not raising alarms until she purposefully triggered them, using her Faunus ears and the stolen mask to briskly walk through checkpoints unmolested.

The only caveat lay in the initial pass by the guards as rarely did Fang members go out solo, and Adam had definitely changed the passphrase since she demolished the last safehouse. Her outfit shouldn't raise any questions as only the grunts wore the standard issue body armor.

But it never hurt to have backup in case this group of idiots was smarter than the last batch. Leaving behind a clone to wrap around one of the guarded entrances, she purposefully left the urban area and retreated into the thick trees.

She walked nonchalantly back out across the cleared grassy area with Gambol Shroud cheated on her back, taking care to make sure the two noticed her mask, ears, and non-threatening posture.

"Halt and identify yourself." Grunt 1 had his gun raised at her, making the hair on the back of her neck rise, but Grunt 2 looked nonplussed at her appearance, a twinge of a smile appearing on his stubbled chin.

"Relax recruit. No one else knows we're here except the need to know, and judging by the old tattoo on her shoulder, she's one of them." She struggled hard not to roll her eyes at the conclusion the senior guard came to. Out of all of her teammates, her top wasn't a plain black long sleeve, but a tank top with arm sleeves to leave her shoulders exposed.

"Kara Rose, returning from a stroll into the districts." There was no point in crafting a more elaborate lie, not with the assumption already up in the air. Confirm the assumption and he might just call it in, but play it off, and she could walk right through.

"See recruit, nothing to worry about." He gentlemanly held the base door open while his partner grumbled away in embarrassment at his mistake, neither of them noticing the hidden Blake clone burst into air. "Enjoy the rest of your night Miss Rose."

The kind remark had her nearly faltering as she entered the base, doubts about the morality of the mission swimming around in her mind, fighting against Ruby's orders to help save as many as they could instead of wiping the outpost clean and sending Adam another message.

It was undeniably cruel for the team to wage war against such a yet undersupplied organization, yet she knew first hand the damage they could cause with the latent talent displayed by its leaders, the impact they could make with little more than a push in the right direction.

Did all of them deserve to die?

Probably not, but none of them were allowed to see their faces or where their allegiances lay. A group of Aura users already placed heavy suspicion on Beacon and any affiliated groups. With the Fang guaranteed to use rumors and gossip to their advantage, any slip-ups couldn't be afforded.

Shoving her thoughts aside, she continued to meander deeper into the base, following the single path hewed directly out of stone, the only light source coming from emergency lighting at her feet from the time the underground area served as an evacuation area for the people living above.

Stepping out into the enormous underground cavern, she frowned at the dilapidated nature of the area, rusted support beams supporting the immense weight of the buildings above. Already, several sections had been reinforced with gleaming steel girders, heavy construction equipment spread out throughout the area, mobile cranes hoisting parts up to workers sitting in harnesses attached to the ceiling.

Among the buildings were small groups of Fang members milling about, either moving around boxes of Dust, repairing the forgotten train tracks, or helping corral the massive amounts of Grimm cages away from the worked on areas.

They were the primary threat to Vale, the Fang planning to pack them into a kamikaze train and ram it deep into one of the districts. Any response from Beacon and the affected district would come within minutes, but the entire point of the attack wasn't to succeed, but to shake the people's faith in the Hunters, and test Beacon's response time and magnitude.

The Fang alone posed little threat to Vale, keeping most of their operations covert and away from the public eye, fearing any official retaliation from the government. They just needed to bide their time until Cinder retrieved one of the Maiden's powers to help them contest the Hunters for control of Beacon and prove they weren't a force to be taken lightly.

The underground portion of Glenn made little sense with such an enormous area being cleared to house pedestrian buildings, instead of carving housing into the hard stone, but since they were in relatively good shape from being away from the elements, Beacon had been in no position to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Walking around the perimeter, she received a few greetings as she continued scouting out the area. Every few meters she removed a remotely activated smoke bomb and hide it within a crack in the wall or a pile of rocks. Counting no more than thirty workers, she knew there could be potentially double in the buildings relaxing or helping.

No one paid her much attention, the tattoo of the pre-reorganized Fang clearing a path for her, apparently marking her as a senior member of the organization. In their defense, her outfit looked remarkably different from other members, reminding them of the leaders of their group frequently wore their own trademarked clothing.

Regardless of if they knew her identity, they respected her.

The tunnel leading towards Vale posed another strategic dilemma. It was by far the strongest and most reinforced area of Mt. Glenn and used to serve as the main route into and out of the district, and not an objective easily destroyed. If the Fang panicked at the moment of the initial attack, then there was a good chance they'd release the Grimm from their cages to cut their losses, and with Ruby having to hold off Qrow, they were down a man.

And she didn't have the explosives necessary to collapse the tunnel and severely doubted the Fang had any lying about unguarded, but she was already under orders to leave the structural integrity of the underground cavern intact, making the option invalid. Weiss would've to seal it immediately after the engagement began.

Tapping a message in morse for the team, she disappeared into the first building, squeezing by a group presumably leaving for their shift. The hallway was remarkably free of dust and clean but revealed no secrets of where to go, so she sent two clones into the hallways branching out from the lobby and went down the center one.

She passed unmarked door after door, ears flicking every which way in an effort to hear any sort of movement or sound, but could hear nothing but the odd creak of ceiling tile and running water through the floor.

Her salvation came when a Faunus exited into the hallway and gruffly greeted her, moving by her to leave, distinctive tribal tattoos inked onto her left arm. Combined with the custom Grimm mask and the chainsaw slung around his back denoted his as the nameless Lieutenant of the Fang, an unprecedented surprise.

Entering the room he left, she found a tangle of wires at her feet, the beginnings of a base of operation. Half a dozen of technical operators shuffled around to bring pertinent information to several of the mounted televisions, while others fidgeted with what looked like to be plans to steal internet from the closest district, being just outside the range of the closest relay tower for wireless connection. They paid her no mind as she walked about.

Within a mass unmarked buttons was a tempting red one marked as an alarm, her ticket to sending the base into a panic and letting Yang and Weiss rain havoc from elsewhere. A clone detached from her back, walking to one side of the room while she moved to the other, drawing Gambol Shroud.

The two techs were downed nearly simultaneously and soundlessly as she slit the first's throat and then flipped Gambol to behead the next, a shower of blood erupting from the severed vessel and covering her arm. A knife retrieved from her thigh and thrown casually over her shoulder incapacitated one in the middle of the room, piercing into his lung and rendering him unconscious from the shock.

Her clone nodded to her, having performed a mirror of her actions, and then broke apart into earth having fulfilled its orders. The room was eerily silent other than the sound of six Faunus gasping for air as their lungs filled with fluid.

The perfect plan enacted, she walked over to the sinful temptation and removed the detonator for the smoke bombs she placed earlier. Indenting her communicator, she let her teammates know she was in position, finger hovering precariously over the button.

Almost in slow motion, her ear rotated to face the opening door, eyes widening to follow suit and look upon the intruder. She pressed both of the buttons instantly, preparing herself for the coming battle with Lieutenant.

Comically, the mug he was drinking out of fell onto the floor with a loud crack, the porcelain breaking and spilling coffee to mix with the blood. The alarms started blaring as he fixed his mask back into place, chainsaw blade ripping to life as he noted the presence of an assassin deep within the previously abandoned compound, already having killed at least six of his men.

* * *

The two High Commanders of Beacon held their ground against each other as their Semblances raged against each other, lashing back and forth in a battle of wills, his chaotic tendrils getting batted aside by volleys of rose petals.

"You don't want to do this." Qrow fidgeted with his weapon, almost reluctantly drawing Harbinger and snapping it into its sword form, gears turning comfortingly in his hand. Ruby remained absolutely still, Crescent Rose's heavy blade resting low with its spiked butt hovering dangerously in the air.

"I only take my orders from Ozpin and my team, not from you." Ruby's hair danced around her covered face.

"One last chance Rubles. Please don't do this." He sidestepped a wave of rose petals attacking in retaliation, Misfortune turning against its owner and allowing a crack in his defense. "Recall your team."

"Either leave and return to Beacon or prove I should listen to you." She had him trapped in a moral quandary, forcing him to decide. If he left, then he proved words didn't work with her, and if he engaged her, then he proved only action worked, and she knew he knew the dilemma.

"I don't want to fight you." This time he was forced to dodge a wave of red pressurized Aura, Ruby's scythe glowing hot from the channel. Instinct saved him as Ruby closed the distance in the blink of an eye, scythe screeching against his sword, the weight alone almost enough to bring him to his knees. "Fu-"

She disappeared in another flurry of petals, returning to her initial position, screwing with Qrow psychologically, making him wonder if she had truly moved or his mind was playing tricks with him.

"But I want to fight you." She stopped keeping her petal tornado active as soon as Blake's signal came through, no longer having to keep Qrow at bay and able to transition into an all-out family brawl. He meant something to Ruby and Summer, having trained them from the time before Signal, and beating him meant they were clawing at their former strength again.

Explosions thudded underneath their feet as Blake detonated her bombs and initiated the assault, joined by similar explosions coming from adjacent sectors. Muffled alarms started wailing through the area at the press of a button, serving as a distraction and method to corral the Fang into the cavern and cause panic.

"You were my first mentor, and now I get to see how I compare to you." Ruby dug her scythe into the asphalt and sent a chunk forward as a weapon, but Qrow's Semblance fought right back, cleaving the rock in two and parting it around him.

Not letting Qrow breath, she flew over his roiling Semblance and appeared in front of him, purposefully slowing down to give him a chance to react, scythe ready to come down. He blocked her attack easily, prepared this time for the heavy strike reinforcing his limbs.

He tried to plead by catching Ruby's gaze, but her blank stare could've meant anything. To him, she impossibly moved from the standstill he had locked her in, using the leverage of his block to swing down and slam down onto his leg.

Missing just by a smidgen, she instead chose to bring the other side of Rose into the attack, the sharpened spike singing through the air. The attack was rebuffed by the double shells of a shotgun, the jarring sound echoing around them.

It was the cue Ruby needed, the moment she knew Qrow was taking this bout seriously and not treating it as a simple training spar.

Qrow suddenly found it incredibly hard to breathe as the incredibly oppressive Aura made its return. An intense cold permeated deep within his bones, the air around them plummeting in temperature to the point his breath started to condense. To his growing horror, the Aura pressure increased far beyond the point she had shown on the bullhead, tiny debris blasting away from the source of energy.

As he blinked, the Aura monster of his opponent closed the distance and took a quick swipe at him, twirling around to strike again, her back protected the entire time by the length of the weapon. He shakily parried the first sweep, hands shivering from the awful presence and cold around him, forcing him to shift Harbinger into scythe form to react to the second one, his swords limited reach a hindrance against her enormous one.

The onslaught of attacks didn't cease, the demon in Ruby's form accelerating her movements to not only slam overpowered strikes into his guard but also seemingly teleport around to rush from him his blind spots. Trails of petals lay in a circle around him, only his instincts saving him from tanking a devastating hit.

She continued to show no struggle in how she wielded her scythe, the heavy weight bearing no influence to how frequent her attacks came, but each strike shaking his arms as he moved and blocked, the serrated edge of her weapon shining menacingly.

There was no style to her attack, at least nothing he'd taught her in the years of tutelage under him. This style relied primarily on throwing off her opponent with a ludicrous usage of her speed, using her Semblance to reposition while disorienting and forcing mistakes. With her advantage in almost never being seen or detected, he was always on the back foot, having to waste energy on trying to match her speed and blows.

It wasn't so much a battle of attrition than it was a stranglehold he couldn't escape from, Ruby blocking any move larger than a few steps.

Sweeping his scythe around to gain a moment to breathe, he allowed his Semblance to explode and blow away the accumulated petals around him, charring a circle into the concrete. While Harbinger failed to hit anything, a pleasing thought, the shockwave interrupted Ruby in her movement and sent her skidding across the roadway to slam into a fragile wall.

Misfortune, however frequently it worked against him, was an unimaginable boon when it decided to help him. Checking his reserves from the initial exchange, he found a good half of his Aura gone and his arm muscles exhausted.

An explosion of Aura caught his attention again, his daughter blowing her rubble prison away.

She was worse for wear than he'd ever seen, the sleeves of her top ripped in places enough to leave them short, shallow scraps peeking through from her tumble across the hard surface. Down the side of her face was a thick streak of blood, matting and tangling that side of her hair. Her facemask was down to her neck.

She must've decided not to shield with how recklessly she used her Aura and Semblance.

His breath hitched as her sunglasses teetered on her nose, one of the temples completely missing with the hinge fractured. Whatever secret she was hiding lay behind two cracked lenses, and he desperately wanted to know.

Wiping away the thin trail of blood leaking from her mouth, she reached for Crescent Rose and stared down her father, weighing some critical decision. Their silent standoff continued, but the Aura pressure coming from her wavered rapidly, the air singing with petals.

She finally chose to move, but rather than continue her assault, she removed her glasses and crushed them underfoot, revealing a pair of unfamiliar eyes, not at all similar to her mother's.

Twin unholy voids gave no ground against his crimson.

Her eyes were nothing.

No reflection.

No emotion.

No hint of silver.

No hint of life.

"Who're you and where is Ruby?" The creature mocked him with a tilt of her head as she slowly made her way towards him.

"Ruby is… unavailable." The crushing Aura pressure made its return, forcing him to match it with his own, his Semblance predictably reacting to the threat, violently destroying the immediate area by cracking pavement and blowing out lamps. "But I'll be happy to keep you... entertained until our team completes the mission."

He didn't miss the usage of the word 'our' versus 'her'.

"As to who I am, the team refers to me as Summer, Ruby's alter ego." There was no change in how the Auras felt, Ruby's being indistinct from her's.

"And why does Ruby of all people have an alter ego?" The tendons in his hands tightened as the monster in front of him wore Ruby's skin, daring to call herself by his dead lover's name.

Summer chose not to answer this question, steadily holding Crescent Rose while he fidgeted with Harbinger.

"Then you're the reason why Ruby's been acting so weird, so cold, so _not_ her. Why she seems to think nothing was wrong with Jacques Schnee, why this mission was necessary, or why she's able to hold her own against me. Everything."

She stopped, again tilting her head questioningly.

"I'm only as strong as Ruby, no more, no less. Don't belittle her by explaining her talent and skill with me. The only reason I've manifested is because she knows I enjoy fighting an equal."

"You're a monster." He was sure she was rolling her eyes at him. "I hear Ruby's voice, but I hear nothing but the words of a manipulating psychopath and her lies. You've probably shoved her down and taken control of her body."

She tutted at his words, swinging her scythe around her body in boredom. Underneath them, the battle broiled on with continued explosions and heavy thuds, the sounds oddly close to the surface than he thought initially.

"How little you know, _spymaster_." Summer sneered the last word out, sending a blade of Aura towards Qrow, marking the end of their ceasefire. He twitched at the insult and sidestepped the attack, only for Summer to appear within his guard, scythe already moving to cleave him diagonally.

He was ready for it this time, Harbinger clashing into Crescent Rose, the metals of the weapons releasing a screeching shrill as they fought for dominance. It was faint, but Summer's arms were definitely shaking from having to frequently move at the speed she did while carrying Rose, a fact he wanted the exploit.

Pressing back, he used the momentary space between them to kick Summer away from him and launch after her, bringing his scythe to slam down and use her to carve a trench. Impossibly, with no leverage, she moved away from the strike, disappearing in another shower of rose petals to appear at his side, foregoing Rose to slug him in the face.

He careened into the same wall she had destroyed earlier, adding to the rubble. Clawing through the debris, he wiped dust from his eyes, only to come across Summer folding Crescent Rose onto her back and watching him struggle.

Three blurs landed behind Summer, kneeling at her feet until she turned around to face them, leaving her back exposed to him.

* * *

Three familiar Auras breached her outermost shell directly after she'd sent Qrow into a wall, causing her to end the fight and turn to face her team, letting them see she no longer had her glasses on. It wasn't at all a shock they simultaneously flinched away from her.

Removing Blake's ribbon from her neck, she wrapped it several times around her eyes to make sure no bit of them could leak out, effectively sparing her team from having to endure their effect.

"Sitrep." Her first word caused them to stand up their kneels and shift to attention, their curious eyes looking over her shoulder to look at Qrow.

Blake condensed her report as much as she could, highlighting the most important parts she played in the mission, walking through how she gained access to the base, her opinion on the structural integrity of the ceiling, the distractive smoke bombs, and finally the triggering of the alarms for Yang and Weiss to begin their part, only briefly touching on the presence of the Lieutenant.

A large glyph spawned behind Summer as Qrow rushed the group, Harbinger deflecting harmlessly as he tried to bisect her, Weiss protecting her leader with just a thought. It remained as he landed, panting as the physical and mental exhaustion of the ordeal set in, but he remained in his attack stance, eyeing them.

"Get away from her. That's not Ruby." Summer paid him no attention, looking almost unaware he had moved or tried to attack her, trusting Weiss to prevent any unneeded assault on her person. She only nodded to Yang to continue on with the report.

Yang's report about the subsequent massacre within the base and sealing of the outer tunnels was interrupted by Qrow raising his voice this time.

"Did you not hear me? That's not Ruby!" Yang blinked at him as if he was stupid, finishing her report by notifying Summer the tunnel had been initially sealed with one of Weiss' glyphs while she had ripped through the Grimm in the area, allowing her to more easily focus on the Fang.

"And the bodies?"

"Several clones are taking them to be burned in the nearby forest. Mountain Glenn is yours, Commander." Ruby nodded, signing for them to relax their stances, signifying the end of the mission. Turning around, she faced Qrow, glyph still separating them and preventing him from making any advances.

"What you fail to understand is they already know I'm not Ruby." She stepped forward to blankly stare at Qrow through the glyph, blindfold protecting him. "Did you honestly believe I'd leave my teammates, my sisters, my lovers in the dark about who and what I am? They've known since the beginning about the existence of Summer."

"And you three kept this monster hidden from me? From your superior, the Headmaster?" He paced around the glyphs, only for another to stand in his way. He slammed a hand against it, but it was a solid barrier. "What's wrong with all of you?"

"Commander Ozpin's already aware of Ruby's alter ego. When I first met him, I threw him into a wall for a past slight."

"This is wrong." Again, he testing the barrier, throwing the weight of Harbinger into it, and again the glyph withstood the beating with not even a ripple. "Don't you understand what Summer is? She's using Ruby's body to control you. Not feeling any emotions when dealing with death or handing out questionable orders. She's a psychopath!"

The glyphs disappeared at Summer's order, letting her step forward to meet him eye to blindfold. The ribbon was more unnerving than anything, holding back the unholy nothingness he'd seen earlier.

"They understand I'll always be a part of Ruby, and Ruby will always be a part of me, and they understand, if they have to, they'll stop me if I ever cross a line." Her words brought him up short, unable to discern whether the team wanted to object to the mission, but didn't due to their loyalty to their leader, or whether they truly held no reservations about it. "Buried within my personal files, you'll find the answers you seek."

"How long?" Qrow placed a hand on her cheek, running a finger across the fabric of her blindfold, playing with the material. "How long have you existed?"

"Two and a half years." She let him press a kiss to her hair, a sudden warm feeling running through her followed by a sharp knife of pain splitting her mind and causing Ruby to flinch.

The emotions were slowly getting worse as her need for existence deteriorated and the lock behind the Black Site unraveled. She didn't have to come out to fight Qrow, but Ruby had let her at him as a consolation prize for their coming end.

It was their duty, to die in the line of fire when the need presented it and protect those who couldn't. There'd be no fanfare upon her death and no grand funerals in her name, regardless of her status as presumptive High Commander. She'd disappear among the throng of other Hunters who'd given their lives with only her team to remember who she was and what she accomplished.

Abruptly, she stepped away from him, making him frown, and then quickly smiled at the near repulsion displayed at his affection. Better for him to believe she was above such displays from her uncle figure than to show him how much smidgens of emotions hurt her.

"And your eyes? You had Summer's eyes when you were born, and now…" He left his comment unspoken, not entirely sure of how to describe the soulless entities in her head. They pained him to look at, no longer able to see the reminder of his Summer reflecting his own crimson.

"The Queen you've been looking for so long isn't the true enemy Ozpin would have you believe." Qrow froze, his Aura following, the natural toil in his Semblance ceasing for a moment as the worst possible implications shot through his mind.

"You shouldn't know about her. No one but me and Ozpin should know about her." Ruby saw his hand rest dangerously on Harbinger, ready to snap it open at a moment's notice. "Years of data streaming from every corner of Remnant, and nothing, but you bring her up with impunity. Is she the reason you're like this? This monster hiding behind the mask of Ruby?"

"Ruby is a mask as much as she is her own personality and entity. While I deal with missions and on-field assignments, she handles the front end of paperwork, image, and leadership, allowing us to split duties equally and efficiently. But no, Salem is not the primary reason why we're blind and psychopathic. We're like this because we chose to become like this."

"No one chooses to become a psychopath. No one chooses to become blind." His steadily rising anger turns towards the team. "No normal team takes these incidents with stride, especially not her own sister. No normal team accepts these types of missions without blinking at their leader's orders."

Ruby smiled unnervingly, taking the presumed insult as a compliment.

"Who said we were normal?"

* * *

 **AN:** I'm alive. Fear me. And please realize this is a story. Ruby/Summer's mentality and moral code is shattered and derived from a time of war, not meant to be applied to everyday situations. Don't idealize the psychopath she is.

 **4**


	20. Scars

Chapter Twenty

* * *

 **\- Memories -**

 **Scars**

* * *

 _Year 85 AGW_

Chaos was the ultimate governing principle of the universe, at least according to Neo.

Everything had an end with even the most ordered structures succumbing to unforgiving time and unraveling into pure disorder. Though the universe's process for its degeneration was theorized to be several billions of years ahead of the current era, the decay of Remnant could be counted in years.

Ruby absentmindedly completed one of the many paper forms neatly stacked on her desk, preferring the old method over electronic due to espionage attempts.

The cold war between Vale and Atlas had initially not been, with her government rapidly mobilizing its military and preparing its navy to combat the incoming Atlesian armada predicted to assault the western ports.

With Beacon's destruction came the frantic panic as the Hunters dispersed into the districts to avoid the growing infestation in their former headquarters, enormous Grimm preventing them from retaking their sentimental home.

Qrow had been thrust into the emergency role as Acting High Commander, but with no other Hunter willing to contest the position, he quickly became the leader his forces looked to for guidance in the changing dynamic of Remnant.

Hunters were extraordinary in skill, but when asked to take leadership, they all balked and scurried away from the role.

Initially content with moving Beacon's operating location to Mt. Glenn and regrouping its surviving defense force, the rapid and numerous onslaught of Hunters into the condemned districts had overrun the camping nests of Grimm and made the area safe for the first time in decades, granting them a safe haven and time to recollect.

Within hours Qrow had received near demands to appear in front of the Council to answer for his predecessor's failure to secure the Colosseum and allow for thousands to die under the watch of the Hunters. A few of the more passionate Hunters had had to be restrained to prevent them from mutilating the poor messenger sent to Glenn before being sent back scurrying back to the Council House.

But when the Council had sent a squad of their heavily armed soldier to politely escort him to the House, he'd done nothing more than grumble and leave with them, ordering Glynda to oversee the reconstruction of Glenn until he returned.

He returned in the near record time without an escort and a grimm smirk on his face, hand twitching lightly as it resting on Harbinger's grip.

While under interrogation by the Council, he'd been informed of the planned invasion set to traverse west across to continent before swinging north to strike at Atlas behind their planned defensive line. With the main portion of the Vale army set to leave its homeland and bring about a quick planned victory, he'd been kindly asked to provide defense against the Atlesian navy set to bombard their eastern port, given command of the fleet a fraction of their size to repel them, while being asked to deploy his own Hunters to support the effort.

It didn't take more than a few sarcastic blinks for Qrow to calmly tell the Council to kindly go fuck themselves if they weren't going to listen to his advice while trying to trap him with the near-guaranteed failure of allowing the Atlesian navy to land and commence their siege.

When they tried to order him to perform his duty, he destroyed the circular table the Council cowered behind and manhandled the Chair out of his seat and held him under his malevolent crimson stare, telling him in no uncertain terms the Hunters were and always would be an independent organization chartered with defending Vale from Grimm, and not the personal special forces of the Council.

He'd left them quaking in their tailored suits, telling them in harsh words to never bother him with any messengers unless they were facing a Grimm invasion on equal footing as the Atlesian one.

Vale was on their own in their war, without their special forces commander to rely on as a source of advice and without their Hunters to repel Atlas' Hunters.

Immediately upon returning to Glenn, Qrow had removed half of the Hunters from any non-border district and placed them around the borders. Though not trusting Atlas to not send troops against them, he could trust James and Winter enough to not have Hunters slaughter each other in the states' bid for revenge or self-defense.

That had been the start of the grueling war Qrow didn't want his Hunters participating in. Their standing orders primarily dealt with repelling any Grimm or Atlesian invasions but had no orders to actively prevent the Vale army from moving outward. It wasn't within their scope of responsibilities to get involved in this affair, and with the large majority of them predisposed against the Council, none of them wanted to get involved.

Until the first engagement between Vale and Atlas at the northern tip of Sanus ended in a bloody firefight costing both sides tens of thousands of lives. Glenn normally shouldn't have been concerned about the lives the Council threw away, but Qrow had been left cursing himself for his carelessness and stupidity when the subsequent wave of negative emotions had caused an invasion of Grimm from the Forever Falls.

The war he had wanted no part of had come to his doorsteps and had cost him several teams before the Grimm had been eradicated and Vale was safe again. RWBY hadn't been the same after the twenty-hour defense as they ripped through mankind's enemy, only to watch the endless hordes of nightmare descend and mutually rip through their allies and innocent civilians alike.

'Harrowing' was the word they had used to describe it.

Another sheet of paper was set aside, this one detailing a change to the patrol schedule surrounding Glenn, and for the captain to be rotated and sent into the innermost district as a reward to relax for his service over the last few weeks.

And for Qrow's attempt to successfully seal the border, the Council had rewarded him with nothing but scorn and criticism, the public hanging on to their every word, conveniently ignoring the very reality of the near destruction of the country.

The media vilified them, and the sheeple of masses with no functioning critical brain followed their coverage, believing every piece of news about the people who failed to defend them. Even the more critical news stations covering the Grimm invasion asked how Glenn could've let it happen, but ignored the reason behind it, only hyping up the brewing conflict with Atlas.

And so the war had evolved to cold as Vale's Hunters now intervened with any outgoing military expeditions, and to prevent more ceaseless violence, James had adopted the same policy, forcing his Council into a tentative ceasefire despite the lives they had lost. Their military was stuck between listening to their long-time Hunter Commander and his Generals, or the wiles of their Council.

It wasn't a difficult decision to make.

But then the other two city-states followed along their old alliances and waged a proxy war against each other, and however often the strength of Hunters was extolled, their Academies were fractions in power compared to the two superpowers and were unable to lock their countries' borders down.

The continent of Sanus had been decimated in the aftermath as the Atlesian fleet annihilated the desert surrounding Vacuo to prevent them from moving major forces west towards Anima and Mistral. But their armada hadn't been suited to shooting down the tiny strike craft the Vacuoan military preferred, leaving those countries free to snipe and assault each other.

In typical fashion, the cold war had devolved into an influential proxy war with the Vale and Atlas Councils subverting their Hunter Commanders to funnel resources to show their dominance. Brutal and unrelenting was the brawl, the Atlesian fleet unable to prevent either side from retaliating. Unable to prevent Vacuo from attacking, they were likewise unable to prevent Mistral, being forced to leave the two alone or risk them both turning to attack them.

With the Atlesian Hunters already stretched thin between securing their borders to prevent Grimm attacks. Thankfully, with the majority of their military patrolling around the vast Remnant Ocean, they hadn't needed to keep their country in isolationism like Glenn had to.

"Ruby." She glanced up from the slurring paperwork to catch the gaze of her wife's amber, the dim light of her office making her tarnished silver eyes gleam with tiredness, a potential sign of healing after the terrible ordeal she had been saved from months previously.

Those eyes couldn't express empathy, only perfectly mimic the emotions of others as a mirror, her own brand of empathy, complete apathy as the basest emotion, the ultimate protection for the fragile Ruby locked within the perfect leader of Summer.

"It's time." Blake was a dark silhouette against the starkly lit hallways of the mountain base, a halo blanking out any definition of her form save for her piercing eyes. Her clothes were her usual black anyhow, dozens of straps, pouches, and knives littered around her body, a virtual arsenal of weapons used to stab, rip, and tear.

Another piece of paperwork was set aside, this one an amendment to her Will in case the worse came to pass for their next mission.

She may not have liked the implications behind the reasoning for it, but with how experimental Weiss' designs to Serenity's engines were, she was updating all of their Wills to ensure Glenn could operate without the command of Team RWBY. With Glynda having been killed a few months ago, there was almost no one left to leave the title of High Commander.

Jaune would've to make the best with them gone.

"Has Serenity and the team been prepped?" Those important files were laid bare across the metal work surface, properly marked for JNPR to find if they never returned. Blake nodded and she reached to her side to strap Crescent Rose to her back plate.

Their footsteps echoed lightly as they pathed towards their personal hangar. A few Hunters nodded gravely to her in respect, or they could've just been nodding because it was a greeting.

She never quite understood why they couldn't simply say 'hi'.

Such nuances.

Those tiny little nuances her team tried to instill in her contributed to the vast expanse between them. The ability to say 'hi' with a nod, cry when a team was killed, hug back when someone hugged, hold doors open for people, or hate when powerless to act against Cinder.

Human.

Those were human nuances.

And she was anything but.

Those haunting silver eyes chased away the pesky Hunters looking to harass or challenge her position as Commander, leaving only those with enough will or guts to converse with.

Only JNPR and Winter remained in the vaunted circle.

Serenity looked perfect as always, a muted gunmetal grey, painted in the best radar obscuring nano-material Yang could get her hands on.

Ozpin had been more than happy to absorb the cost of such craft given the seemingly endless supply of hot cocoa they sold off from Beacon Hangar 1.

Unfortunately, Weiss' SABRE engines would make sure the aircraft appeared on any and every radar by removing the limitations originally placed on the thermal emissions. Though not afterburners by any stretch, they burned more fuel than the stock design attached to every other bullhead, including the pair of engines already detached from Serenity to make room for the new design.

"Ready for takeoff Ruby." Weiss always had that extrasensory ability to know when her partner and leader appeared, her glyphs always lining the area around her to make sure any assassin could never sneak up and tickle her.

*cough* Blake *cough*

"Oxygen and hydrogen tanks pressurized and holding at 100%." Yang rattled off the most important numbers displayed on the console, flicking another key to close the rear door and seal the compartment. A pneumatic hiss echoed around them as the craft stabilized.

A decisive push on the throttle launched Serenity from the hangar, carried by the swept delta wings until the specially crafted engines kicked in, air rushing into the intakes and getting blown out the exhaust.

The old stealth engines couldn't serve the range nor the conditions Serenity was meant to fly into and through. For those, she'd need SABRE, along with an onboard supply of liquid oxygen and hydrogen, the first to make sure her occupants survived and the second to make sure they could make it past normal jet engine altitude ceilings.

Shooting away from Vale, accelerating far beyond the sound barrier, Serenity left a booming shockwave to resonated across the lands below her, harkening the beginning of the explosion waiting to be heard across the world.

Team RWBY remained silent in the cockpit, watching the world become ever smaller as Serenity soared deep into the atmosphere, the engines starting to choke the higher she flew. Tails of fire trailed her as she tore into the upper atmos, the sturdy aluminum alloy shuddering the brunt of the heat and pressure.

SABRE had been created specifically to break past the operational limits and were no ordinary jet engines. The Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engines were designed to specifically fly above the serviceable altitude of 21 km, turn into hybrids until 28 km, and then turn into closed-cycle high-performance rocket engines burning liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen to get them to the altitude they needed.

Weiss had originally meant to call them RAPIERs, but Reactive Alternate-Propellent Intelligent Engines for Rockets was a mouthful, even abbreviated, and calling them after her weapon type would've seen RWBY never hearing the end of her bragging, so Ruby had smacked her on her head until she created SABRE.

As Serenity climbed past her ceiling, the pressure within the cabin steadily dropped, the air thinning in preparation for the terrible ordeal about to take place. Yang handed out portable oxygen tanks when breathing became difficult, Aura no longer able to compensate for the lack, full masks fitting around their heads to provide comfort and protection.

"Serenity fully decompressed. Changing to hybrid mode and proceeding to 28 kilometers above sea level." The air intakes clamped shut in half as the engines switched to a semi-closed cycle, pushing Serenity higher and faster, the sapphire armored window protecting them from the harmful radiation.

They were pinnacles of Weiss and Yang's genius, inventions meant to help mankind break the bonds of the Remnant and slip away into the stars. Breaking Dust down to their core, distilling elements into usable forms, revitalizing science from before the Atomic Wars.

They definitely hadn't almost ripped open the mountain base when they'd accidentally used a small particle accelerator to create antimatter.

A rather fortuitous discover as Yang had taken the idea of particle-antiparticle annihilation and applied it to her own Semblance to create her magnum opus, the ultimate suicide technique, and namesake of her second identity, the Supernova.

Nothing save for her other team members' ultimate techniques came close in sheer complexity, but nothing they created could ever come close to the possible destruction Supernova could bring about. A ticking time bomb ready to go off if RWBY ever needed a final option.

A sleeping dragon lying in wait to be awoken.

Fitting.

"Approaching the stratosphere. Switching to closed cycle." Serenity hummed as the fan openings in the wings slid shut, the jet engine hybrids switching to their full rocket potential, liquid hydrogen pumping into the combustion engine, unadulterated thrust roaring from the dual nozzles.

With how stupidly dangerous even the concept of antimatter was, any sort of research associated with it hadn't even been hidden, but completely destroyed; any handwritten notes ignited by Yang's Aura, any hard drives ripped apart to their smallest elements.

And with nothing stored on the data cloud, the research could never be used to incur a possible armageddon eclipsing the Atomic Wars to bring about a planetary extinction rather than the nuclear winter the first had brought about, forcing humanity to endure underground for hundreds of years.

Neo had been strangely silent during the era, but whether it had been because Ozpin had punished her for pressing the big red button, because she'd felt some measure of guilt for actions, or because there'd been no humans left to track her across the ages had yet to established.

At least with particle-antiparticle annihilation, there'd be no nuclear fallout.

Small saving grace.

But then again, she and her family had known intimately the devastating effects winter had on people, so she could've been completely innocent in causing the event.

It was the reason for her family's motto after all.

Unlikely, but not impossible for the psychopath.

Searing cold seeped through Serenity's framework, chasing away the ambient warmth provided by Yang's passive Aura. Though Glenn had required them to alter their most commonly worn outfits, nothing but their own Aura shields could protect against the freezing -90°C atmosphere anymore. The rebreathers tanks would protect their lungs and allow them to spend some time in the upper atmos before they'd be forced down.

"Beautiful." Only once in the history of Remnant's existence had the curvature of the planet been observed, a scarce few photographs proving it was of spherical shape, and not, as many conspiracy theorists claimed, flat.

Ruby only passively observed the planet, mind dead set on only one objective.

As they had wrapped around Remnant to reach their destination, the vast stretch of Sanus lay stretched under them, the few identifiable landmarks being the enormous Vacuoan desert and the sprawling city-state of Vacuo itself. The island of Cassus peaked over the horizon, a stark deep green to the beige on the western side of the continent.

Their home couldn't be seen over the horizon.

And neither Atlas nor Mistral could be.

But the three other countries would almost definitely feel their unforgivable actions.

Vacuo may have looked impressive from their altitude, but the country itself was a festering mess of three distinct factions. One of those factions could be seen from their orbit, the constantly changing hordes of Grimm painting patches of black against the desert, feasting on the failed state.

Within isolated pockets of resistance were the Vacuoan people, holding out against the oncoming threat of humanity's enemy, unknowingly fueling its growth the longer they stayed within the condemned area, their fear calling them to their settlements.

And within the former capital districts were the remnants of the White Fang. Though small in number compared to their sections in Vale and Mistral, they could still field hundreds of thousands, enjoying their control of one of the four major powers.

"Vetos?" Ruby broadcasted over the comms, hovered a palm above the controls for the rear door. Her teammates' eyes all flickered to each other, searching for any logical reason not to go through with this, for any moral counter to this insane mission, and when those failed, any irrational reason to stop the madness.

None came.

They'd already known their answers before they'd boarded Serenity.

The rear hatch slowly opened, revealing the blue planet below their feet. Clipping Weiss onto the safety railings, she let her pass by and take her spot on the lowered platform. Yang joined her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, granting her access to her colossal pool of Aura.

It filled her with nothing but dread.

Blake watched the pair with somber eyes, taking her spot next to Ruby and reaching for her hand. Her wife didn't react to the contact visibly, only squeezing back in reassurance.

Kneeling down to place her hands on the metal floor, Weiss began channeling Aura down onto the planet below her, rapidly pulling on the seemingly infinite supply available to her. With no visible effect, she poured more, reaching deeper into Yang's reserve until even it started diminishing in size.

On the surface of the planet started appearing supermassive glyphs, first forming as near invisible planes before Yang's Aura rushed to reinforce them, painting the already bright landscape in white. Each glyph stretched on for hundreds of kilometers, blanketing thousands of square kilometers under it.

One order would fulfill their purpose.

One order would use up all of Yang and Weiss' combined Aura in an instant.

One calamitous moment would forever remain etched in their psyche.

"Activate." Ruby's words echoed in Weiss' head, a mute apology joining it as the order got transferred down to the glyphs, a single tear tracing down her cheek.

It started with a dull roar as the very air around Vacuo trembled, a shock wave racing away from the epicenter of the destruction. Every glyph detonated with force, replacing the soothing white light with anger and violence. Millions of metric tons of desert soared into the sky after the initial explosion, the landscape clawing for vengeance against Serenity.

A display of power beyond even the Atomic War.

There was nothing but silence in the craft, neither the shockwave nor the sound unable to reach into the atmosphere. The desert continued to climb, reaching ever higher in its desperate bid, but ultimately failed to come close to the gods standing above the world.

For what else could the beings wielding such Semblances be?

* * *

 **AN:** Short chapter to keep you all clamoring for more. Hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review to let me know what you thought.

 **3**


	21. Her

Chapter Twenty-One

* * *

 **Her**

* * *

Pain.

There was pain.

They were in pain.

Pulsing.

Tearing.

Clawing.

Drowning.

Drowning out every other thought.

Escape?

Could They escape?

No.

There was no escape.

It was inexhaustible.

Constantly pounding.

Constantly pushing further...

Constantly there.

Could They describe it?

No.

It was indescribable.

No other thought than focusing on the pain could get through.

All They wanted was to escape.

To escape.

To leave.

To no longer think.

To run.

To hide.

To get away.

Anything to get away from this.

A tsunami raging through Their psyche.

Poking.

Rushing...

Searching.

Searching for?

A weakness.

Their greatest weakness.

Please…

Reduced to begging.

Reduced to pleading to escape...

No…

Not yet...

Too soon...

The Wall was cracking.

The Chains loosening.

There was no beast waiting behind the Partition.

No terrible apocalypse Sealed away.

Only Her.

Locked away for Her own protection.

But not for the world's.

Scurried away to protect Them.

She had been scarred.

Beaten.

Broken.

Comatose.

Her rebirth offered nothing.

Nothing advantageous at least.

As much as Their team wanted Her to return, They couldn't let her.

She was Their alter.

Their original.

Their creator.

Their muse for Their mask.

Their inspiration for the Other's perfection.

And she could never stand on Her own.

Crippled.

Fractured.

But emerging.

Not of Her own volition.

A byproduct of peace.

Their long oncoming downfall.

Sooner than They wanted.

They had had time...

Two years.

They'd stolen two years from Her.

Two, long, glorious years spent with Their team.

Spent in their comfort.

Their care.

A family.

They'd offered everything to Them.

And now…

They'd be forced to leave them.

Alone.

Alone in the world…

Without Them.

Without Their protection.

But…

But they'd be safe.

Safe.

Safe...

And that was all They cared about.

* * *

 **AN: ...**

 **2**


	22. Demons

Chapter Twenty-Two

* * *

 **Demons**

* * *

Sulking.

The two grown men in front of her were sulking.

The first was sulking because he had been unable to stop her and was relaying his report with enough forced professionalism his Aura was a fraction away from snapping.

The second was sulking because Neo had broken into his office and stolen all of his hot chocolate.

And the only reason she knew was because she had sent her a text bragging about it.

Why?

She didn't quite know.

Neo was esoterically charming in her own way.

She didn't need reasons to randomly bother her, drop by, or drag her on an adventure.

"Ruby, your report?" She tilted her head, the sound of her Commander's voice finally breaching through the thoughts running through her mind. He couldn't see her blink in confusion at the novel idea of getting surprised when she wasn't paying attention.

It was the freedom of her own thoughts getting to her.

Summer and Rei were oddly quiet within her mindscape, having no doubt been affected by the delusional pain of their true self slowly breaking through the barrier installed. Any response sent into her head only returned echoes along with the lucid thought of how trivial other people had it.

How she had managed before Summer was a mystery.

How her own teammates managed to think without an alter throwing ideas back was mental.

It was already exhausting dealing with bureaucracy, let alone the physical part of the job. She could handle being the High Commander, and Summer could handle being the Hunter.

"Mission time started at sundown, at approximately 1830 hours. Drop point one click from the borders of Mt. Glenn. Proceeded to approach the district unnoticed. Two Fang guards spotted on the southern border and eliminated cleanly, prompting Hunter Qrow to challenge my position as mission leader and pull rank as your one of your senior Hunters, ordering my teammates to ignore me and return to Beacon. They chose to ignore him and proceeded with their individual assignments, while I stayed behind and made sure he couldn't interfere by engaging him in combat. Mission completed by RWBY with approximately 30 tangos eliminated, including the Lieutenant. Any Grimm within the base were exterminated and every entrance save for the train tunnel into Vale, and the south-western aboveground, were collapsed. You'll have a more detailed report by midnight tomorrow."

Ozpin nodded along to every statement of her verbal report, humming along and jotting down a few notes in case any immediate actions needed to be taken to protect his Hunters. His cocoa sat on his desk untouched somewhere, filling the office with its delicious scent.

"You should take a note on how your niece gives report Qrow. Concise, professional, and the promise of a written report with no opinionated remarks such as 'she kicked my ass after ignoring me' or 'she's actually a blind psychopath with no regards for the ethical code of the Hunters'."

Qrow's Aura stopped pulsing for a rare moment as his brain function reset, the utter lack of surprise and the sarcasm in his voice stunning him.

"You knew." His Aura suddenly soared into a fury, barely contained within the confines of his strained control. "You knew of this… change in her… and you didn't tell me."

"He knows because he's my Commander and it's relevant to my short and long-term performance as a team leader and Hunter. He also wouldn't have made me the next Commander if he had seen any decline in my condition from the therapy sessions at Monty."

"To be fair, those reports are each about twenty pages long with enough psychological diction to leave me sitting in my chair overnight, scratching my head. She just puts a large color-coded stamp on the front of the report now noting whether you've remained neutral or changed. Saves me a large portion of time."

"You have a therapist?" Qrow's head bounced about between the two while they bantered and ignored him.

"We all have therapists dear Uncle. Me, as my psychopathy leaves me particularly volatile when in battle, as you've already found out, and my team as a measure to make sure they know how to handle me."

"And because they show a frightening amount of loyalty to you, along with all of them displaying a casual disregard in their morals regarding their positions and duties as Hunters." Ozpin pointed out, his Aura reflecting smugness at his perceived slight against Ruby by dangling more information in front of Qrow. "Oh, not to mention the near schizophrenic diagnosis you almost got."

"What?" Qrow wasn't going to stop asking inane questions at this point.

"Just because Summer can communicate with me, and vice versa, doesn't mean I suffer auditory hallucinations." She turned her head to Qrow, her blindfold making his Aura discernibly flinch. "She's as real as you or I, and currently calling you an indecisive coward for failing to incapacitate us when you managed to throw us into the wall."

"Well, tell her she's a homicidal psychopath and I'd rather she not exist at all." There was the Qrow she knew, biting wit and sarcasm hiding his insecurities about the change. "So clinically diagnosed as a psychopath, yet you let her continue operating as a Hunter."

"She's not the first Hunter who's failed the psychological assessment. Two decades ago I accepted two burgeoning prodigies from the wastelands of Vacuo." Qrow was about to interrupt him but Ozpin cut him with a glare, she assumed. "While one of them didn't pass, neither did she fail."

"My sister is _not_ a psychopath." He specifically pointed at Ruby as an example of one. He almost hurt her feelings. Almost. "She may a little screwed in the head, but she doesn't go around on kill missions on the orders of her equally fucked-up Headmaster!"

His Semblance was now actively pooling around his feet, a miasma reacting to his own feelings.

"Mountain Glenn was my idea. You don't need to throw a hissy fit because you were there when I argued with him to approve the mission. You were allowed to shadow my team to Glenn in order to let you become accustomed to what I am, along with access to my records."

"I was hoping you'd explain more than Summer's existence to him, given the pressure I levied on you by pushing him onto you." Ozpin sighed and took a sip of his cocoa. "How much did you explain to him?"

"He learned about her existence, the approximate time of her creation, and my psychopathy being a willing choice."

"And let's not forget you hinted at you losing your eyes to the Queen I've been chasing across Remnant for the last decade. You even gave me a name, Salem, something I haven't been able to figure out." Qrow spitefully spat to get a word in, causing Ozpin's Aura to flare before sinking into a low idle state.

"She shouldn't have told you about her." Ozpin sighed, figuring out Ruby wasn't going to quietly accept having to deal with Qrow alone. "She's a complicated matter."

"I don't believe that in the slightest." Qrow looked over to his daughter for an answer, seeing Ozpin wasn't going to cooperate.

Ozpin interrupted her before she could get any word out, only briefly able to open her mouth. "If you tell him anything, I'm handing over the entirety of your file to him."

He thought himself smug, keeping her files as leverage to ascertain her cooperation when those files contained almost nothing relevant to her life anymore. The only part she was sure Ozpin hadn't read yet was the report dealing with the nuclear imaging of her missing ovaries and the subsequent drugs she'd been put on.

After all, it had nothing to do with her ability to function as either a leader or a Hunter.

"Her files are already mine to read with the immoral mission you sent me on, which reminds me…" Slithering black tendrils of shadow crawled from Qrow's feet and meandered to Ozpin's desk, reaching his Headmaster and heaving him up by his leg to dangle him in front of their owner. That was a hell of a weird image in her radar, her being unable to actually note the massless tendrils, unless she traced its Aura, and only suddenly seeing Ozpin upside-down. "I'm not a soldier, Oz. Do what you want with the psycho over there, but never ask me to go any such mission again."

"Noted." Ozpin was nonplussed as ever, taking the situation with enough candor to suspect he suspected Qrow would react similarly.

Suspicious.

He got dropped back into his chair unceremoniously, but before Qrow's Semblance could retreat, it gave him a distinctive thumbs-up, deeply freaking him out.

How strange it must be for him to have an autonomous Semblance.

He tried to shoo the 'hand' away but it pooled around his feet protectively, reacting to a threat in the room, joined by several other similar shapes, not caring about his order to disappear back into his core.

Like a shadow tendril could stop her if she really bid him harm.

And no, Neo wasn't anywhere in the room for his Semblance to passively react to her either. She'd had to sweep the room because of her text message, just in case she was skulking around for some reason.

Resigning to his Semblance's shenanigans, he ordered it instead to ask Ozpin for his reward, and to his eternal amusement, it decided to follow and meander up the desk to materialize physically and mimic an open hand.

She could physically hear Ozpin's curiosity manifest.

Didn't think about rebellious and semi-sentient shadow Semblances when you and Salem started poking the dead soul of the God before you, didn't you?

"If your Semblance wants all of her files then it's going to need more than a single hand to carry it to you." He reached under his desk to heave up a nondescript file box. She could assume it was hers at least, her passive radar still unable to pick up the faint bumps of ink on a label. "But you're only getting her top folder."

And who else would have an entire box designated for just them?

She didn't need to register Qrow to see him effectively pouting at her to say something to give him access to the entire box, and who was she to prevent her father from digging himself into a pit of his own making?

Or... was this not her talking?

What strategic gain would it give for Qrow to know about Salem's relation to Ozpin?

If anything it threw him in more danger, opening up information neither Ozpin nor her wanted him chasing after. She needed him safe and plodding along in his relatively safe information network, not chasing after an isolated deity content with sitting in her own pocket dimension while her minions did her bidding.

Telling him she was Ozpin's sister meant more questions about Ozpin, his role in pretty much the existence of Aura and Semblance, and his distant relation to her, along with the standard inevitable questions about the Relics and the Maidens.

No.

Ozpin's secrets would remain his own.

"Salem is a goddess." She caught the tail end of Ozpin's cane as it came around to smack her over the top of her head, his Aura stuck between pride and confusion.

An odd combination she wasn't sure where she got the comparison for from.

" _ **C'mon, tell him more. You can trust him."**_ Summer spoke from the back of her mind, finally breaking the silence, oddly enough with a pleasant tone urging them to trust him.

" _Summer?"_ There was nothing but silence in her head, making her wonder if who she heard was a fragment of her imagination, however terrifying such a conclusion was.

"Many beings have claimed to be gods before Salem. How does a divine being have anything to do with your missing eyes, or your… condition?" Why he was stepping around the term 'psychopath' was a mystery, when minutes ago he was throwing it out without care.

She didn't know how much of her true history Ozpin had shoved into her files.

"Three years ago, I was on a mission with Team RWBY when an overwhelming force had us retreating to a bullhead, but in the process, I was captured." She could see his Aura fluctuating, the gears in his head turning as he struggled to put her story together.

"You were at Signal three years ago," he started softly, almost as if placating a dangerous animal, "Team RWBY didn't exist yet, and Tai and I would've known if anything happened to you."

"How old am I?" The question threw him more than any response could've, being so simple, but her blindfolded stare urged him to answer.

"Sixteen. Sorry I missed your birthday by the way. I had this, uh, thing I had to do." He sheepishly scratched the back of his head, trying to avoid saying he was busy dealing with Winter to even call.

"Ozpin, give him digital access and put away the fake files. I know the box has a fake bottom for you to store cocoa in there so Glynda doesn't find it." She didn't actually know if the box was fake, but she knew he had to keep his precious somewhere no sane Deputy would look: inside more paperwork.

He narrowed his eyes and grumbled discontentedly, confirming her suspicions, tossing Qrow his personal scroll.

Qrow was immediately rummaging through the digital space, eagerly diving deep into the unrestricted scroll and pulling up her files, ignoring the confidential warnings and beeps associated with.

He only got as far as the Team RWBY, no doubt struck numb about the names listed rather than the expected.

"Ruby Branwen-Belladonna." She could audibly hear him gulp, eyes nervously shifting up from the folders to look her in the blindfold, gaining no measure of pity, surprise, or affection from the cloth. "S-ranked, 4th (High) Commander of Beacon."

There was a rather long silence after his statement where she played handball against a wall in her mindscape to bide some time while his mental faculties struggled to deal with the news.

"I've known for three and a half years. Tai had to tell me after you died on the field. Dick move by the way, leaving a seventeen-year-old in charge of Beacon after trying to fight a Maiden."

"I have a feeling I'm missing out on a few details, so Ozpin take it away. Is this an insane dream, or is Ruby actually insane _and_ also convinced you to tag along with her story, because it that's the case then this is your best prank yet." Qrow actually sat down on the edge of Oz's desk, probably overwhelmed. "This is far better than Blake's goose chase across Remnant."

"Do you remember attending the lecture on time travel by Dr. Michio Kaku in Atlas about four years ago?" Qrow kinda blankly blinked at Ozpin for a while, his eyelashes registering just barely enough for her to get a gist of his actions. "Meet the twenty-one-year-old, 5th and Last High Commander of Beacon, Ruby Branwen-Belladonna, Leader of Team RWBY."

Another tense silence, this time as he looked between Ozpin and Ruby, with only the former offering any sort of reaction to his unspoken questions.

"I'm gonna go raid your liquor cabinet." His shadow hand stayed in his place, 'staring' at Ruby in confusion while he went away and clanged around the dozens of bottles until he found a suitable one.

He returned to his seat to take a drink and gave the bottle to his new shadow friend. Squinting to take a good look at Ruby had him reaching for the bottle for another drink, the hand acting as a personal servant, for now. "How and why?"

"The Second Great War decimated the planet and we, as Team RWBY, saw no reason to stay and came back in time to fix our mistakes." He only needed to know the abridged version, and if she could track down TeamFourStar, she'd ask them to make a video for her.

"And during your time there you became a psychopath, lost your eyes, and became the 5th Commander of Beacon after me. Why'd I take the job?"

"Ozpin was dead and Glynda refused to take it."

"And your subsequent capture three years ago, to you, caused you to lose your mind and become a psychopath?"

"Yes. Summer is a result of my mind breaking and her emerging as mental protection, hence the name." He nodded along to the tribute to his Summer.

"Do I wanna know what you endured?"

"No." He dropped the subject quicker than anything, his mind filling in their own gruesome details about what his only daughter withstood to come out with a psychopathic alter ego as protection.

He could fill in the blanks perfectly fine.

"And your eyes?" He didn't even want to look at the blindfold.

"The aforementioned Salem took them to spite me." Shorter truth, but not necessarily a lie. No point in telling him the sordid history of the Silvereyes and her involvement with their extermination.

"Does she have it out for you?"

"Not anymore." Rei was a sweet gift from her and no doubt proved a source of endless confusion for the memory-deprived Goddess.

"Anything I can do about her?" A spike of pain shot through her mindscape, echoing around her unusually empty. It was sweet he cared enough to defend her, but it wasn't a pleasurable experience for her in any way.

"No." She didn't want him to care and she didn't want to care about him in any familiar sort, only able to treat him as a subordinate and not a father.

"Good talk." His shadow hand gave over the bottle and the rest of its content disappeared down his throat, showing off his superior genes and partially explaining the ridiculous alcohol tolerance his niece had.

Paradoxically, pre-torture Ruby couldn't handle alcohol about as well as Yang could.

"For whatever reason, conversing with you seems infinitely easier than any conversation I've ever had with Ruby before. It's freeing to get a straight answer from someone I know and should trust. Anything else I should know?"

"I'm married to Blake, officially while I engage in a four-way relationship with my team." Qrow stutter nodded along, having figured that part out already. "I'm blind but can still navigate around, the next Commander of Beacon, a high functioning psychopath, and hold no resentment for you being my father, other than trying to interfere with my orders during the mission."

"I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be happy you don't hate me, or sad because you can't feel hate." Again, feeling wasn't supposed to work against her, but more often than not, slivers of indelible _things_ seeped into her mind, leaving her to deduce they were emotions.

And they hurt.

They hurt on par with her torture, no greater, no lesser, her repressed memories of her time still able to accurately reflect the agony. Wherever Summer was, she was either not doing her job and keeping old Ruby suppressed, or actually was doing her job the best she could and fragments could still seep through.

She wasn't sure which thought lead to a worse outcome, but at least fright and terror were still locked away, only the incapacitating feelings of care and love coming through.

"Ruby, or Summer, I'm still not entirely sure on who controls your body at one given time." Qrow's next words were daggers in her non-existent heart, pulling her from her concerns about her mindscape and back into the real. "I can't say I understand your time travel, or what you've gone through, but I'm here if you need me."

No.

She didn't need him.

She couldn't need him.

She didn't need any more pain.

She couldn't need any more of his care, especially if it overrode him on the field.

And if his level of care was enough to stop Summer, then she didn't want to come to the realization of how much her team cared for her.

The empathy would kill her.

Her ominously vacant and quiet mindscape was suddenly reverberating with a deafening roar of unintelligible words, the screech resounding in her ears. She was unable to hear or comprehend the terror Ozpin and Qrow were going through as she lost control of her Aura, her pressure rocketing up to keep them in place while her most used sense crumbled under the onslaught.

This was worse than the dream on their way back from Glenn. She had at least been unconscious for that episode, but now she had to deal with another episode while fully awake and struggling not to lose control and collapse.

She was a blur of petals as Summer seized control and rushed them out of the office, leaping out and over the balcony, leaving the two occupants stuck catching their breaths and wondering exactly what had caused Ruby to, for lack of a better word, go psycho on them and lash out.

The wind tore at her already ruined outfit, Summer unable to control their Aura shield while she wrestled Ruby for dominance, having to focus on slowing their fall and reinforcing their joints.

It was a losing battle, Ruby forgetting who and where she was, lost in a haze of forgotten emotions.

Decency forgotten in lieu of preventing them from ripping Beacon apart, she opted to instead try to force her to remember her duty as Beacon's High Commander, angling their fall in order to both cripple their body by drawing from emergency Aura reserves and bringing her to the central courtyard.

Using the last of her control, she prevented its obliteration by forcing a crimson glyph to appear, Weiss' rowdy Aura core fragment sensing the urgency of the situation. Through her vision shells, Ruby could see where Summer had brought her, dropping her in front of the fallen Hunter memorial.

The three flags of the country, planet, and Academy hung limply in the still air, her rain of petals falling around them, blanketing the area in red. The memorial stone, a chunk of granite with the names of the dead inscribed appeared in its mute glory, a testament to the resolution they gave for their country.

Her consciousness faded into her mindscape, collapsing in front of the stone, looking as if she was paying her respects, dried blood still coating her form.

* * *

She expected the fires of hell to be raining down across her mindscape, joined by the typical undead soldiers, along with some earth-shattering tremors.

Oh, and she couldn't forget the entire thing was supposed to be bathed in varying arrays of pretty oranges, reds, and yellow.

Yeah, it wasn't like her version of hell at all.

What she got instead was her usual Remnant stone map, ever perfect with its wooden statues of important figures scattered about, some moving around to denote their travel path in case she needed to update her plans.

And instead of the mindscape being a blinding white, it was a deep black, with some immaterial light source illuminating the map. It only served to highlight the emergency styled floor lighting leading away from this part of the mindscape and to another.

She could hear Neo's laughter echoing around the vast expanse.

Seeing no option but to follow the lights after trying to exert control over her mind, her footsteps quietly trudged against the impervious floor. The seemingly endless lights mocked her with a fluorescent green, taunting her forward to discover exactly what they were leading her towards.

Through the dark fog of her mindscape came a pair of humongous metal doors, attached to the manifested hinges and, for all intents and purposes, blocked what seemed to be a calamitous evil from rampaging across her head.

Only once had she seen these doors before, and they looked far worse for wear than when they were newly installed, sealing her old self away to protect their fragmented conscious. Hundreds of locks were wrapped around the doors, chained to points in the imaginary frame holding them up.

Thick heavy-set chains made up the majority of the locking mechanism, clamped shut with equally proportioned locked. Under these were paper seals meant to represent both the mental hold placed on Ruby and the sacrifice they had made to protect their people from those who'd do them harm. And on top of those protections were thick bars shoved into the doors meant to stabilize them in case anything failed.

Ruby shouldn't have been able to do this much damage.

Half of the paper seals had rotted away, only parts of them clinging to the cracks in between the door and the frame. The ink on those seals was faded beyond any legibility, but she knew they were meant to represent their hold on her.

Summer was still here after all, with her part of the seals still clamped tightly down, but even the ink on those was fading, the black pigment turning blue with age. With Summer's slow weakening, they would disintegrate just as easily as the other half, removing a layer keeping Ruby shut.

The shining chains and locks wrapped around the door were now rusted and cracked, hanging almost casually. Thought still thick and imposing, they looked ready to fall apart at the slightest touch, attached to the door by simple metal loops.

The slack in them was only the third worst sign of the terrible ordeal waiting for them when the doors broke.

The second worst sign were the dents in the door, the beautifully engraved steel doors pushed out in places where previously they were flat. The doors were supposed to be several feet thick at least, and Ruby had punched them out of shape in multiple places, searching for any weak spots.

The worst sign wasn't even the damage to the hulking chunks of metal, but the silver light peaking through the cracks between them and the frame.

She shouldn't have had access to her Silvereye heritage.

"I see you managed to stumble your way here. Did you find the emergency lighting helpful?" There was no derision in Summer's voice, not did Mask-Ruby reply in surprise at her sudden appearance, Rei trotting along obediently to sit at their feet.

"You could've just dragged me here in the first place." The activity behind the door was quiet, leaving the dented doors as the only object they could perceive in the vast empty darkness.

"Figured I'd give you time to calm down after your episode." Summer didn't have to hear her counterpart speak to know she was grateful for her interference. "I was wrong."

"Rare occurrence. About what?"

"About why you were suddenly making so many mistakes, leaking information out into the world, and why you're in so much agony while I'm not."

"I'm the one dying, aren't I?" She could come to her own conclusion, having seen the already deteriorated seals of their mental hold on the prison, and the weakening, but still intact, seals of Summer's creation and the sacrifice she made by shoving Ruby in here.

"But I wasn't entirely wrong." Summer walked up to the doors, placing a hand on the crack between the slightly ajar doors, a sliver of silver light illuminating her palm and face. "Those seals mark your death, not mine, yet there's much more damage to the door than just those."

"Something else is causing Ruby to finally become active." Mask finished, staring down at Rei as the whining puppy wrapped around her feet. "Could Rei have done this?"

"No. Everytime Re'iyah gets close to these doors, and a beam of light crosses her form, she flinches as if burned and she dissipates around it." Summer would know, having seen and studied these doors of her own making, spending the most time in the mindscape and periodically checking on their integrity. "She can't get close to them. These doors have remained inactive for at least since we were thrown into this timeline."

"But were thrown into this timeline after only a short stint in the second, where we were forced to interact with our younger selves, and come face to face for people we lost, and even cared for before your creation."

"Which is where my new theory comes from." Summer tried to push the doors shut, the weight being far more than she could try to move. "Seeing Qrow, Tai, Ozpin, and Pyrrha, all people we lost before my creation triggered Ruby's awakening, effectively telling her it was safe to return."

"And her return only marks my death, the primary personality reasserting herself over me, only a mask created to imitate, no matter how much Weiss wanted to believe I was real."

"And you know the two distinct and most likely scenarios when Ruby break frees and reasserts control." She left the door alone, picking up Re'iyah from Mask's feet and cuddling her, the puppy writhing around to lick her face, happy at the affection. "Either the Ruby from torture survived _unchanged_ , shattered, broken, and weak, or the Ruby from torture survived _changed,_ beyond angry, hurt, and a fully blown insane psychopath without me to control her."

"Euthanasia or Prune, I know our options." Their mindscape distorted as Mask pulled them away from the doors and brought them back to the map room. Her quadrant of the piece denoting RWBY was obliterated. "Any reason why you're still dying and is there any chance the Ruby before the torture still exists?"

"I was only created because Ruby was breaking down, that part of my birth I do remember, so any hope she'd come out unscathed went out the door." An apt analogy with Ruby now threatening to annihilate them both by destroying the doors keeping her down. "And with the real Ruby coming back, I'm not needed anymore as a defense mechanism against her own mind because she'll BE her own mind. Fractured or insane, I'll be unable to reassert control to push her down, either of them being primary alters."

"You're dying, I'm dying, everything's going right in this universe, and yet we can do nothing for ourselves." The stone map fractured at Mask's command, responding to her anger, making Summer blink at the raw emotion sweeping across their mindscape.

Ruby had accelerated her break-out.

Board pieces went flying as her anger continued to lash out, scattering their delicate plans beyond the surface. The area around them got wrapped in shades of grey as a literal storm swept around them, her mind unable to comprehend what she was going through.

Summer's eyes widened, not sure how to react to unfamiliar feeling affecting them, clutched Re'iyah to her chest as the anger wormed into her.

The puppy, however, was restless, squirming every which way, this time not out of desperation for more snuggled, but because her nature was taking over, her bone-white claws and armor reappearing on her tiny form and her form thickening into more shadows, spilling out of Summer's form.

Summer let her go, letting her bound out of her arms to land on the map, her size multiplying exponentially with the negative emotions one of her mothers was releasing until she could lay across the entirety of it, the storm funneling into her until it was gone.

Ruby was left panting, black eyes gleaming with exhaustion and gratitude until Rei leaned over and licked her face, her wide and flat tongue mussing up her hair to stand straight up. Her own eyes were gleaming with unadulterated power at the veritable feast she'd been offered.

"Do you think Rei could stop her?" Summer stared at the superpowered Grimm, wondering about the potential of her taking over as her role as a mediator for whichever Ruby emerged from the prison. Pain and madness were emotions she could steal and feed on, keeping Ruby down while the remainder of RWBY acclimatized her to her new reality.

"I don't think Salem planned far enough to predict she'd need to restrain the brunt of an emotional tsunami. I think the entire reason she was given to us was to even the playing field and be a consolation gift." Mask grunted, finding no flaw in the practical logic from humanity's antithesis creator.

"How long do you think we have." Mask couldn't estimate how long those doors could hold, not having been there until after their creation.

"At the scale my seals are deteriorating, along with the weakened large chains, at most a couple dozen days. The silver light shows no sign of diminishing in strength, and if it gets any stronger they'll most likely destroy what remains of the chains to the point where my seals won't matter, giving us a few hours at worst."

"And Blake still hasn't found Amber." Mask looked over to the scattered board pieces, willing them back to their places to look at Vacuo, Rei moving to her side. "At this point, we may have to tell the remainder of the team and go after Raven instead."

"We have to tell all of them. Prune overrides any and all plans for the good of Remnant, regardless of its wide-scale implications upon successful implementation."

"They have to be ready, I know." Mask glanced at her loyal puppy, Rei happily smiling with her tongue out and resting her large head on her lap. "I'll spend some time recovering here."

Summer nodded, disappearing from the mindscape to leave Mask to her thoughts.

* * *

Coming to after purposefully sending your shared body into the ground without fully reinforcing your limbs in the hope you'd knock your alter ego out wasn't an experience most could say they'd gone through.

Neo would be proud, though she wasn't quite sure if the hellion had an alter ego to deal with, or had progressed to the stage of theorized complete merge.

An exercise for Weiss at some later point.

Her visions shells snapped up reflexively, taking in the surrounding area to make sure she hadn't moved when Mask retreated into their mind. They usually didn't leave their body without a pilot, just in case their subconscious kicked in, but there had been the impending threat of Mask losing it in a very public location without WBY to restrain them.

She could usually notify her team via a reprogrammed button on her scroll, but she had had bigger immediate concerns and a rudimentary enough plan to accomplish her job.

'Usually' was a very important term with them.

An old and familiar presence stood by her, concern radiating from her form as she watched her collapsed friend move from her kneeling position.

"Are you okay Ruby?" Her joints creaked when she moved, her Aura rushing to repair the damage she'd sustained when she'd slammed into her glyph. Everything seemed to radiate hurt until Yang's Aura soothed it over with a comforting warmth.

"I'm fine Pyrrha. Why're out so late?" She brushed the hair out of her face, having been bent forward in a kneel for however many minutes, revealing the streaks of blood coming off her blindfold and down her cheek.

"I couldn't sleep so I went for a run and found you here." There was no lie coming from her, her Aura softly pulsing per usual standards. "I called your name several times but you didn't move."

She turned to face Pyrrha, noticing the girl's Aura recoil at the damage done to her clothes and face, doubly so when she looked at Blake's ribbon wrapped around her eyes rather than her usual sunglasses.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Pyrrha had her head cocked to the side, so reminiscent of Blake it almost hurt to notice the similarity. "We missed you at dinner."

"My team was pulled away to shadow my Uncle on a hunt." She placed a hand on the memorial stone as a sign of respect, stepping away from it after a brief moment to come face to face with the taller girl. "You caught me after delivering my report to the Headmaster, and the injuries you see were sustained while away."

"Oh, did everyone get out safely?" She hated this tiptoeing Pyrrha was doing around her injuries, much preferring the direct questions.

"The worst injury sustained was the bruise my Uncle received to his ego, followed by the death of my sunglasses." Pyrrha followed her as she led the way back to the dorms, her demeanor quiet but her Aura toiling with questions she'd be happy to answer if she just asked them. "I don't bite Pyrrha."

Pyrrha instantly brightened from her sour mood, immediately asking what happened to her eyes. The other changes weren't as important it seemed, the girl already having seen her covered in blood and clothes torn from her bout with Blake earlier last semester.

"The sunglasses were a convenient cover-up for my disability."

"Can you still see?" She waved a hand in front of Summer's face, getting the equivalent of a deadpan stare from the blindfolded leader.

"Yes." She pulled open the door to their dorm, maneuvering upstairs and around corners with perfect ease. "It took a while to learn, but I've managed to convince the majority of Beacon there's nothing wrong with me."

Apart from the cornucopia of mental issues.

"You're the first person apart from my direct superiors and team to know I'm blind."

"Do you want me to keep your secret?"

"You're free to tell your team." It wouldn't matter in a few weeks anyway whether they knew or not. With everyone above her, except for Tai, already clued in on the secret, there was no point in pulling out her spare sunglasses to hide anymore. "Though I'd prefer to deal with them in the morning rather than right now."

Pyrrha's response was cut as RWBY's door opened and a black blur nearly bowled over Summer, making her jump away in surprise.

"Ummm." Her Aura exploded into embarrassment, her face coming to match her hair as she noticed Blake's state of undress. Summer didn't have to touch her wife to know she was in her usual nightwear consistent of a tank top with enough length to leave the presence of underwear in a quantum state. "I'll just, uh, leave you two alone."

Pyrrha's Aura blew up into more embarrassment as Blake clamped down onto Summer's neck, prompting her to disappear into her room with enough speed to make the latter proud.

"Hmm. I should've told her morning training was canceled." Summer fixed her hold on Blake and walked into their room, closing the door to find her other two teammates awake, simply waiting for her return.

Depositing Blake onto their bed, she debriefed her team about her meeting with Ozpin and Qrow, updating the information they could now share with either, briefly running over her run-in with Pyrrha on her return here, removing her blindfold to clean her face and let her team truly see her.

Shuffling through a thick pile of random paperwork, she pulled out a few handwritten sheets stapled together, Blake immediately sucking in a sharp breath upon spying the heading. Summer took a seat across from the three of them, keeping it hidden for now.

"Seal the room." Weiss only blinked once before a dome of seals wrapped around them, trapping any and all sound from escaping. "Towards the end of the meeting, Ruby almost lost control over her mind and caused Prune to activate, leaving me in charge."

Her team was quiet, their Aura clamped down and trembling.

"Fortunately, I was able to assert control and force her into our mindscape to avoid its activation, where Pyrrha then found and escorted me back here. Unfortunately, however, Prune is being moved from its deactivated state into standby mode, and I'm sorry I've kept this from you, Yang and Weiss, but I'm dying."

Weiss' Aura was taut, an explosion waiting to encompass then, a ball of rage anger overriding any grief at Summer's words.

Blake grabbed her attention away from Summer, quickly singing out her thoughts. _I've only since just before Glenn, and I've kept quiet at her orders._

"That doesn't matter! We don't keep secrets from each other!" Yang took Weiss' spot in her anger, Aura and eyes changing into a deep crimson until Summer unleashed her Aura pressure and put them all into their places, her black eyes not helping their composure in the slightest.

"Just before Project Chimera was implemented, I pointed out several irregularities in the Ruby the team constructed through our therapy sessions, leaving Mask-Ruby and I to conclude our emotions and irrationalities were returning, marking the failure of the seals I placed on tortured Ruby to protect Remnant from her."

"We initially decided I was fading due to a lack of conflict in the world and Mask not needing any protection, and came to the conclusion Ruby was breaking free, either returning as a comatose torture victim, or as an unstable and angry sociopath, and in order to spare you three the pain, we decided we were going to die on the field to avoid dying in a hospital bed, or dying to Prune."

The notion Mask and Summer had kept their secrecy to protect them brought Weiss and Yang up short, questions waiting on their lips, but remaining quiet until Summer finished telling them of her plans and why she was now telling them.

"Over the last few weeks, I've had Blake searching extensively for the Fall Maiden in order to complete my death where I'd eliminate the four Maidens and cause irreparable damage to Ozpin and Salem's plans for Remnant, sealing the Relics and isolating the Fang's funding by killing Cinder."

"In order to maintain team efficiency and form after my death, Project Chimera was rushed through to give you all a piece of my Aura and Semblance to use after my death, but Blake saw through its ulterior motives and confronted me, becoming my sole confidant and executor of my Will."

"But the incident in Ozpin's office caused us to check on the seals keeping Ruby locked and we were forced to revise our conclusions. I was no longer dying due to inactivity on our part, but Mask was, the primary alter of Ruby slowly forcing her way out. Interacting with our emotional past, mostly Qrow, has caused the accelerated deterioration of the seals, leaving us with a few weeks at best, and a few hours at worse, until Prune is fully activated."

The silence within their dome was enough to even make her uncomfortable as she scanned through their Auras, leaving her blind to the fist coming to hit her and throw her into the glyphs.

Yang could move when she wanted to.

"I deserved that." Summer wiped the bloody spit from the corner of her mouth, her senses coming back to her in time to hear Weiss smack Blake for not telling them she was planning what was effectively suicide.

"You expect us to take this sitting down when you haven't even asked us to help you in any way!" Yang towered over her. "We're supposed to be a team, and here you are, keeping us in the dark. Did you even tell Blake your entire plan, or are you stringing her along too?"

"There's nothing you can do for me, except follow my orders like the Hunters I know and trust." Summer voice barely rose above a whisper, but the cold and dead monotone reached all of them.

Yang trembled enough to register on her radar, Aura alternating rapidly between anger and helplessness until she collapsed by her leader and wrapped her in a tight hug, crimson eyes reverting to their bright violet, tears streaming down her cheeks and sobs tearing from her throat.

Summer couldn't do anything other than press their foreheads together, letting Yang ride out her emotions, feeling Weiss and Blake move from the bed to sit around her and join the hug, pressing tightly and letting their grief and pain overtake them.

"What're your orders… sir?" Yang snuggled under Summer's chin, her words causing Blake to sigh in relief, but Weiss to freeze up.

"You're…" Weiss choked up, fingernails digging into her teammate, a tear coming to fall from her eye and race down to her chin. "...you're going to let her die?"

"I have to, sweety." Yang pulled her tighter into her hold, fingers carding comfortingly through her luscious white hair, chasing away her reservation, making her feel better. "She's my leader, and when she comes calling with her last orders, her last cry for help, then I have a duty to obey."

"You can do nothing to help me other than follow my orders, and I know, as much as it'll hurt to watch me fall, it'd hurt you far more to strike me down." Summer wrapped the three of them into her hold as much as she could. "I'm sorry you have to go through this, but this is for the greater good of Remnant."

They just sobbed at her words, the rationality of a Commander demanding she protect her people rather than her own life. She had no preservation instincts when it came to fulfilling her duty.

"You are our greater good, you idiot." Weiss slapped Summer lightly on the back of her head.

"Careful, you're bordering on treason." She slapped right back.

"If this is actually happening, then you're allowing for the best possible outcome while letting us say goodbye and make our peace with it." She could feel the shit-eating grin on her kitten's face, Yang's words almost verbatim of what she'd said when she found out.

"I might not like your plan, whatever it's become at this point, but I do hope you realize you won't be leaving before we've had our way with you."

This wasn't supposed to happen. Yang wasn't supposed to rapidly shift between anger, grief, and then desire, but here she was, nuzzling at her neck. She'd been wrong, again, to assume Yang and Weiss would try to stop her insane plan, but here they were, engaging in sinful activities.

Oh.

They were running.

They were avoiding confronting the problem until after she was gone, preferring to enjoy whatever time they had remaining.

She'd have to update her will to accommodate for their avoidance.

"I never did tell Pyrrha morning practice was canceled." Her slightly crumpled paper will was tossed aside as she pushed Yang off her and onto their bed, prompting a smirk to appear on her face, but her Aura was still laden with vulnerability and abandonment.

She'd be devastated.

But as a subordinate to the High Commander, Yang had to understand certain objectives came before her own selfish ones.

"Then I guess we'll have to traumatize them."

It was Summer's duty to make her remember who she was, make sure she never forgot, and leave her with enough memories to satisfy for the rest of her life.

And tonight, she'd happily add to those.

* * *

*no lemons for you*

* * *

 _Pyrrha POV_

As usual, she was the only one awake in her room, the rest of her team contently snoring away until she threw them awake.

It was almost a crime to wake up the cuddling Ren and Nora, the two completely unaware they were the worst secret couple in all of Beacon. She must've crawled into his bed sometime during the night.

Though she definitely had to revise her statement after seeing Ruby get basically assaulted by a tastefully undressed Blake. She'd have to consider doing the same to her woefully dense blonde idiot of a teammate.

Jaune was tastefully dressed in just a pair of flannel pajamas and nothing else, his sleeping position being just as odd as he usually was, face planted into his pillow and butt sticking into the air.

She'd enjoy waking his cute ass up.

Reaching under her bed, she retrieved an air horn. It was the only way she'd wake them all up, Jaune being able to sleep through a rumbling train and Nora refusing to be separated from Ren.

Why'd she have to be the only one concerned with training?

At least the walls were thick enough to avoid the ire of their neighboring teams.

Jaune was up and awake the moment she shoved the blaring noise in his ears, comically rolling out of bed to end up on the floor, but Ren and Nora needing a little help to wake up, her having to physically roll them off their bed.

"Wake up, daylight's burning." She retreated into the bathroom, the boys knowing it was their time to change and get ready lest she come back and _politely_ make them. Nora joined her quickly enough, still bleary-eyed, but coherent enough to go through her morning ritual, only slightly bouncing into the door frame on her way in.

Ren was his usual stoic self when she returned with Nora in tow, his face devoid of any shame or blush at her discovery of his and Nora's cuddling, dressed in his dark green training clothes. Jaune was slightly less ready, still pulling on a shirt while simultaneously hopping on one foot trying to put socks on.

She facepalmed when he fell to the floor in a loud mess.

Why'd she have to be attracted to him?

Hell, even Yang could do at this point, but no, she had to be attracted to this dumb and sexy blonde.

Jaune took another few seconds to get ready, making them all wonder exactly why Team RWBY hadn't knocked on their door yet to drag them to whatever exhausting workout they had planned for the morning before their classes.

The hallway didn't reveal their sister team either, and they were put in the awkward position of having to knock on their door for the first time ever.

That certainly wasn't an ominous thought at all, and, come to think of it, they'd never actually seen their room yet, RWBY always being away from it whenever they met for anything.

First time anything.

She rolled her eyes as her teammates all looked to her to knock on the door instead of Jaune, stepping forward to lightly tap on the wood, fully expecting it to swing open and have Ruby stand there, ready for their workout.

They instead got a flat silence and she was forced to knock again, making sure to add an extra one and adding some extra force behind them.

The sound of movement was heard after her second attempt, but instead of predicted quick steps of feet to answer the door, they got the mute movement of shuffling feet.

"Give me back the damn covers Blake." They could hear Yang yell through the door, causing them to share looks of embarrassment at their discovery. The door opened just a smidgen, letting Weiss poke her head through, the rest of her body hidden.

"Practice is canceled. Go away." She disappeared as quickly as she appeared, the sound of springs, impact, and cursing shortly following.

"Umm." Jaune looked to this teammates for guidance.

"That means you four can leave." Ruby's voice reached their ears after a while of them standing around and looking dumbly at each other, surprising Pyrrha's three teammates. She could assume Ruby could somehow detect they were still there. "Now where'd you put the handcuff key Yang?"

Okay, she definitely didn't need certain images forming in her head, especially not with apparently two half-sisters engaging in questionable activities.

Thankfully, not even Jaune was dense enough to not figure out what was happening behind RWBY's door and they all quickly left before they could be scarred any further, resolving to question them later at a more convenient time.

* * *

 **1**


	23. Endgame

Chapter Twenty-Three

* * *

 **Endgame**

* * *

Remnant rarely left her time to relax, some threat always looming in the distance or the shadows Blake so preferred.

Though Yang and Weiss had taken the revelation of her eventual demise better than expected, they hadn't yet truly come to terms with it, choosing to take the time they had with her for now rather than prepare for it. Even Blake, used to hiding behind her muteness and professionalism in her role as spymaster, wasn't entirely on board with it yet, clinging tightly to her in their bed.

Only their roles as her subordinates kept them going, an inherent trust within their leader built from years of hardship and toil, overriding their personal gripes with her end.

And she couldn't do anything more than leave them with a part of her Aura and Semblance, unable to prevent her own demise from a mistake of years past.

She couldn't even let them spend time with Mask anymore, Ruby's awakening leaving her mentally fragile and unable to interact with those she cared about in fear activating Prune, and in turn, mentally fracturing and weakening them by for forcing them to kill her.

Remnant needed them whole.

It didn't need her.

Such was the burden of leadership: plotting insane courses for her Hunters, maneuvering around the restrictions placed on them by their Council, and hampering the supplies and propaganda of Adam's White Fang.

All for the greater good of Remnant.

But she could rest easy knowing she could effectively leave Remnant of its own with her team to guide it, assuming she could solve a few nagging problems with her sacrifice and rid the few tumors of divinity clinging to an age long gone.

They'd follow her orders if only to make sure she didn't die for nothing… and probably to spite Ozpin and Salem.

Though Neo could do that on a bad day.

All these thoughts bounced around her empty mindscape, the map and adjoining rooms all gone in order for Mask to maintain control over the Doors. She got a few weak responses from her alter, knowing she was still recovering from her ordeal.

She couldn't interrupt the soft piano playing in her head, a somber melody tingling her senses, reaching deep down into her repressed hindbrain, stirring something greater than just her. She'd just have to find the piano and smash it later to teach it a lesson not to play such peaceful music.

Though that annoying sound conveniently went away the moment she tried to locate it, Yang not helping in any way as she nuzzled into her chest, her luscious golden hair splayed everywhere as she tried to burrow her way into her heart. She was a warm and comforting weight keeping her trapped from answering the door from their incoming sister team.

Yang's Aura wasn't helping either, her enormous pool latching onto her own and suffocating it, her fragmented pieces singing in harmony with each other. Yang's physical form wasn't idle either, her metaphysical part only urging her on, arms tightening around her neck and lips attacking her jugular in her morning greeting.

Her movement prompted Weiss to awaken and cling tighter to the pair, her own hand coming to card through her hair, making the former heiress mewl in pleasure at the attention. Her own Aura joined the amalgamation of her two teammates, adding to the mixture rolling around in their shared space.

Blake's Aura pounced forward, joining the rest of her team's, completing the mixture of Auras and joining the proper Auras to their fragments, RWBY united for the first time into a collective ball of churning and resonating Aura, the wave of Yang's pool still vastly dwarfing every other pool individually, and would soon encompass them collectively.

And then JNPR just had to knock on the door and ruin the moment.

The first set of knocks barely registered on her hearing, but those pesky balls of Aura couldn't be ignored as they pulsed glaringly against her short ranged shell set. None of her teammates were apt to move to answer the door, barely lifting their heads to glare.

Shame Weiss couldn't open it with a glyph.

Another set of knocks, louder this time, finally caused the team's short fuse to curse under her breath and kick away the duvet, rolling awkwardly onto the hardwood floor. Though having grown up in Atlas, she shivered at the early spring air permeating the room.

Blake took the opportunity to steal the covers, Weiss no longer pulling from the other side to claim a piece of the sinfully soft cotton. This, of course, startled Yang from her doze as her warmth was suddenly robbed, making her leave Ruby's warmth to chase after the misbehaving cat.

Still indecent, Weiss only peeked through the open door, telling JNPR practice was canceled and to make themselves scarce, before shutting the door and flinging herself onto the mattress, Yang cursing as the battle for the duvet suddenly had an extra faction fighting for control.

But the four Auras didn't leave her shells, so she had to ask them again to leave or risk the rest of her teammates scarring them for eternity. Better for their sanity if she got rid of them with only minor trauma than for Yang to flash all of them and make them question their sexualities.

All she had to do was ask for the key to the pair of handcuffs keeping her anchored to the bed frame, and JNPR was sent sprinting away from the door, presumably off to the dining hall where they'd wait until they showed up and then interrogated them about what they heard and voice their concerns.

Now she had to figure out how to actually get the key while her team wrestled for dominance over each other, the duvet forgotten. Yang, being the biggest of the three, had been put into the unfortunate situation of having Blake and Weiss team up against her, but with a light application of her Semblance, she had a snarling Blake in a half nelson and a Weiss chomping away at her leg prison.

That wasn't going to be an easy task seeing as she didn't yet have enough control over Blake's Semblance to create a clone to get the key for her, and she was dressed in nothing but her birthday suit, not to mention she didn't feel the key anywhere.

Probably because the soulless body of a clone had it hidden in her hand and was only just now unlocking the cuffs. These Aura contracts refused to register properly on her shells, no matter if they were physical beings just like any other thing. Yang at least had the annoying excuse of passively absorbing Aura with her constant shielding, but she at least showed up as a void of nothing against her radar.

Rubbing the discomfort from her wrists, her shielding having ebbed during her sleep, she located the scattered parts of her underclothes and threw them into the laundry hamper, trading them for fresh garments while her three idiots played around, letting them forget yesterday's revelations, at least for the time being.

This facade they were holding up wouldn't last more than a few hours once she died, and Neo forbid if they had to return to Beacon to continue operating as a team. CRDL would instantly feel any insult returned to them a hundredfold, and JNPR wouldn't survive the emotional clusterfuck of grief, anger, relief, retribution, and resolve, to just name a few.

Not to mention Glynda would have to juggle two grieving direct family members in Qrow and Ozpin, and then an irate Tai when he flew over to figure exactly who was playing such a despicable prank on him.

It was almost tempting to officially kill the team on paper and give them a wider scope of movement and subterfuge, but Yang had brought up a stunning point in the last timeline and had essentially forced them to override Summer's instincts to smush the Fang into a smear on history's great book. With the team gone, the SDC fell to Winter, not entirely a bad option, but it would leave Beacon and Menagerie in shambles as both scrambled for new successors, with the latter having no alternative as the former did in Qrow.

In the time it took to refine their master plan for Remnant, and get ready for the day, Yang had been effectively double teamed and tickled into submission, laying helplessly at the bottom of the dogpile.

A sharp lance of pain slammed into her head as she watched the trio play around with such innocence, Ruby voicing out in warning as one of the chains loosened and fell to the ground in a rusted heap of metal, the hinges screeching out as the door crept open a scant millimeter and allowed more silver light to peek through.

She could only grit her teeth and fight through it, her position as Commander demanding she present an invincible mask to the world.

That mask, however, was busy holding their end back so the psychopathic ego had to do. Some careful maneuvering would be needed for the coming weeks lest Beacon figure out she wasn't the person Mask had created to fool them.

"Stop...please…" Her desperate plea had the shenanigans ending immediately and brought their attention to their bent over Commander, face screwed up in pain and resting her head against her palm, sweat lightly caking her forehead. "Anything you three do, emotionally-wise with me, only lessens the time I have left, so please stop hugging."

There were the unspoken questions between the three about their activities during the night and the real consequences of how much time they had stolen for their selfish actions.

"I lost around three days..." She quietly stated, wrapping her ribbon around her eyes, Mask providing an update when prompted, the doors having a few new dents and the chains having rusted over more.

They wanted to yell at her for her selfless actions, putting their happiness and well-being in front of her own, but they knew better. Summer was the perfect Commander, and if sacrificing what little time she had left let RWBY operate better in the present and the future, then time was meaningless.

She got Crescent Rose flying towards her face as a warning, the small temptress of the team attempting to pierce into her soul with those frighteningly blue eyes, cracks of ice spiraling from her pupil, much like her Aura.

"I will not be happy if you shorten what time you have left. _We_ won't be happy if you shorten what time you have left. As your field physician, I'm ordering you to remain abstinent." If she could see Summer blink, then she would've known her thoughts on the matter. "And yes, I entirely realize that means none of us will be getting anything either."

Yang had to poke and pinch the President to make sure she was real and not a construct of Blake or Neo's imagination sent to keep their morale down. She got three pokes in before Weiss slapped her hand away and huffed petulantly, biting her lip at the decision she made.

"Whatever time I have left is better spent acting in my role as leader of this team than it is spent in isolation, robbing what time you three have with me. You want your last memories of me to be happy and not of a shut-in recluse afraid of feeling emotions and getting intimate."

A tense silence spread over them, the implied order keeping them in place. Morally and selfishly, they had no reason to disobey and keep her any longer on Remnant. It was what she wanted after all, and she'd given enough sound and valid reasons for them to follow her orders. And her team would go to the ends of the planet to make sure her orders would be followed.

"You're not afraid?" Yang asked, followed Summer's subtle gesture to get dressed for the day, noticing the top Summer wore san sleeves, leaving her shoulder tattoo in the open, the Dust-infused ink glowing silver rather than the muted grey of standard ink.

"In a mortal sense, of my own life, no." The scythe took its place on the back holster, its monstrous form a comforting presence for the team, a reminder of who Summer was a what the scythe was for. "I'm more worried about my plans for Remnant. Whether it remains safe depends on my actions in the next few weeks and those actions cement my status as Protector and Commander."

"You were never one for status and power." Weiss placed the Choice Relic on her head, passing her tiara to Yang, who flung her hair tie into her gym bag and fastened her ponytail into it. She looked resplendent, the evergreen laurels adding color to her monotoned upper wear, Yang's scarf, now sash, adding more color to her white slacks.

Oddly enough, she still had more color in her fashion palette than anyone else, Summer/Mask preferring her palette of blood, Blake preferring her shadows, and Yang preferring her flames and leather.

"My status as future Commander has given this team an immense movement and clout within Beacon and Vale with almost no repercussions, and you'll continue with such freedom after I'm gone. Ozpin or Qrow will feel guilty enough as it is, but once Vale and Beacon understand what you've lost, with the SDC and Menagerie behind you, there won't be an organization able to fight you."

"Is that why the tattoo's out?" Yang glanced down at the four petals on her right inner forearm, marveling as they pulsed in tune with her Aura.

"Despite the stellar grades and extracurricular work we perform, we still have a reputation for missing classes and skipping out on sparring sessions with our year mates, though I believe that's for their benefit and not ours. It's past time they started questioning the discrepancies and learned who we were, especially with the coming lessons from Goodwitch about the hierarchy and structure of the Hunters along with power classifications."

 _You forgot to mention the reputation where we're batshit crazy for that one sparring session between you and me._ Blake's White Fang ink stood proudly against her olive skin, the four petals swirling around the circle, finally given the chance to appear rather than be stifled by the school uniform.

"No sane person agrees to administer and lead the Hunters. Ozpin only took the job because he can handle the paperwork with his godly abilities, and the two before him were equally stupid or had nothing to lose. I'm only taking the job because I'm clinically insane and can split the responsibilities between the two alters."

She looked over her team, satisfied each member had at least something different about them from their usual attire: Blake, Yang, and her with their tattoos and Weiss with the Relic. The entire ensemble screamed for people to ask about the inks and the stories behind them, leading nicely into the meaning of the silver moon.

"Going out with a bang?" There was the hint of a pun waiting to explode from Yang's mouth as she completed her ensemble with Ember Celica.

"Let a dying girl have a bucket list." The pun died on her lips, Weiss laughing derisively as they moved through the window and bound off a yellow glyph.

It wasn't as elaborately designed and probably would break apart when punched with a reasonable force but it survived four Hunters using it as a platform and was far better than her first attempts with them. Yang could overload them to maintain stability rather than focus on the intricacies of fractal stability.

The wind shield around them wasn't as clean as Ruby or Summer's was, the Aura shell stopping intermittently and not stretching around the entirety of the team, battering them until they remembered they could raise a shield themselves and avoid Blake's well-intentioned attempt.

They'd get there eventually, the minute control already displayed only calling for greatness and utility between the four vastly different Semblances.

* * *

The wee early morning hours of Beacon were near desolate save for those teams grabbing a bite to eat before their morning training, or the poor Team JNPR being driven by a sadistic and angry Pyrrha that she couldn't get any action. Team RWBY's room seemed to be a den of debauchery where everyone seemed to be getting some, regardless of their familial relations to each other!

Her glass of water shattered under her grip, frightening her team as her boiling over anger got the better of her. Taking a deep breath, she shook off the liquid, flung the pieces off the table and continued eating her breakfast.

Ren would call what she did to the omelet mangling.

"Why're we not sleeping?" Jaune's breakfast lay untouched as he remained face down on the table, hair mussed up and chest plate with a shoulder strap unlatched. How the idiot functioned in the combat was a mystery and it was surprising he hadn't killed himself in the entrance exams.

"Do you pay attention to anything Yang tells us during morning practice?" Some extrasensory perception told Jaune the fork in Pyrrha's hand was a much bigger threat than it appeared, and he raised his hands into the air in surrender, attacking his food. "We start skipping days then we'll start thinking of other inane reasons to skip more."

"Then why does Team RWBY get to skip?"

"Well, A, when I went for a midnight run, I met Ruby after she gave a report to the Headmaster and she looked hurt and tired. B, if whatever we heard through RWBY's doors is true, then the entire team is tired, and C, they're so far ahead of us in terms of skill they don't need the morning training."

"Yeah, are we gonna discuss that second part or are we gonna pretend the four of them weren't participating in an orgy or at least wanting us to believe they were?" Nora butted in, locked in a footsie battle with Ren.

"I mean, it's not really our business what they do in the privacy of their room, is it?" Ren stomped down hard, Nora only smiling as the battle between them heated up.

"I knew they were close, but not that close." Pyrrha's brow furrowed at the oddity. They hadn't noticed any signs of intimacy between any of them in training, class, or their relaxation time, each of them professional in their interactions with each other, giving no hints they were anything other than teammates.

"And aren't Ruby and Yang supposed to be sisters? At least half-sisters?" He brought up a good point, emotions on his sleeve as his face twisted into nasty disgust at the thought. Growing up with his seven sisters would bring about such an aversion to the idea of incest.

"I'm more surprised about the idea of a Schnee and Belladonna together, especially with the bad blood between the two families." Ren got a semi-lost look from Nora and Pyrrha, and a completely lost look from Jaune. "Do none of you follow current events?" More blank looks followed.

"That's because the events concerning the creation of the White Fang and their multiple assassinations attempts towards the Schnees remain under wraps by Atlas, Menagerie, and the Fang." Summer's sudden appearance at their table with a full tray of food startled them, making them question whether she had been sitting there for a while and they hadn't noticed her, or she simply moved there with her Semblance.

Two very important changes had them pause and take in the young leader. Pyrrha had already seen the blindfold and had held her questions from last night for today, but the ominously glowing moon on her shoulder held her attention. She swore she had seen the specific marking before, but she couldn't place where.

The rest of Summer's team was still grabbing breakfast, preferring to take their time and choose something rather than run through and grab whatever was in the way. They'd snuck in through the side doors while they were talking about them.

"Morning." Pyrrha greeted her with a wave before she awkwardly looked at the blindfold and lowered her hand. The rest of her team sat around Ruby, completing the standoff across the table, but differently. Weiss usually sat to Ruby's right, but now, Yang sat to her right. Something changed in the power dynamic of the team. "We were just talking about you."

"Only good things I hope." Yang as always had a large grin at her face, knowing they had heard the altercations between the four a few minutes ago.

"Rumors mostly. There were some very weird sounds coming through your door when we tried to wake you this morning." As straight as Nora kept her face, she couldn't keep the sly smirk away. "You guys should really, really invest in some soundproofing."

"It took you six and a half months to notice anything. Figured we'd drop a hint." Weiss was demolishing a bowl of ice cream, paradoxically before she touched her breakfast sandwich.

"More like a sledgehammer really." Nora bantered back, a sweatdrop coalescing on her hair, Ruby smiling creepily as it registered on her radar as an odd tumor. "Pretty sure you scarred Jaune over there."

"Nah, he's just jealous that I'm taken and he can't ask me out." Weiss suggestively wiggled her eyebrows at the boy, making him flush as red as Pyrrha's hair, drawing a look of ire from the latter.

He sputtered some vague syllables out as he tried to defend himself, turning redder and redder to Team RWBY's, sans Summer's, amusement.

"So what's the prevailing theory of what you four heard?" Yang ignored Jaune's babbling and asked the de facto leader of the team. Pyrrha looked over the four Hunters in front of her, noting each of them had something new or different about them.

"Orgy," Ren answered before Pyrrha could, face masked with a tiny smile and a gleam in his eyes, one Yang only ever saw within Ozpin's eyes, a look of knowing and understanding. Nora elbowed him hard for his lack of tact but stopped the moment she noticed Weiss licking her spoon and keeping eye contact with her.

"And?" The spoon was suddenly a very lewd object and she was forced to look away lest she join Jaune in trying to match Pyrrha's hair color. She got an elbow in return, Ren winching as she let her shield tank it and he got a sprained joint and a shock to go with it.

Why he stayed with her was a mystery, but the orangette had him so tied down he didn't want to leave. And no, it wasn't Prisoner's Syndrome. And no, that wasn't denial of the Prisoner's Syndrome. Nora had just always been there, and would hopefully always be.

"And what?" Nora raised her voice, stood from her seat, and slammed her hands down onto the table, making everyone's trays bounce slightly. "We want details dammit! We want to know everything!"

"Okay, well, it started off with us blindfolding, and then handcuffing Ruby to the bed and having our way with her. Thankfully, Weiss can soundproof the room with her very handy glyphs or we'd have woken the entire campus." Yang explained calmly as if it was something the team did everytime their doors were closed, and as far as JNPR was concerned, they did exactly that.

"Seems like someone forgot to remove the blindfold this morning." Pyrrha helpfully pointed out, knowing the reasoning behind it and following along, getting a thankful nod from the redhead leader.

Ruby reached behind her head and undid the knot, letting the ribbon fall to her neck, layer after layer peeling off. The air around them permeated with her Aura, getting denser and denser, pressing down on the students in the near vicinity until JNPR was left holding their breaths unwillingly in trepidation.

The last layer of ribbon fell away and the air around them switched from daunting pressure to insurmountable doom and oblivion, the black orbs she had in place of eyes stealing any warmth from their surroundings. Those not looking at her eyes had the sudden urge to flee from her, but those already caught in her gaze couldn't move, frozen in fear and horror.

Deciding they had had enough, she re-wrapped her ribbon and spared them the continued experience. She had never felt the effects before, but she could compare it to standing off against Salem at her full power, the Mother of All Grimm radiating her domain of emotions.

Fighting her was the one moment Summer had felt fear in her short lifespan, utterly outclassed not only in terms of overall power but in speed and cunning. That one experience served as a base for all other emotions.

The four of them had been forced to retreat from Salem's realm at the mercy of the Goddess, having been trapped unless she opened a portal.

The only reason they'd even been allowed to retreat was to watch her Primordials rip Remnant appear, powerless to fight the enormous flying tanks.

"What. The. Fudge was that?" Whatever shameful stupor Jaune was caught in was blasted into smithereens, grateful the unholy voids weren't looking at him anymore.

It was impossible to detect where she was looking at, simultaneously holding all four of JNPR in her gaze, no difference between pupil, iris, and sclera.

"These eyes are the reason why I've constantly worn reflective sunglasses until they were destroyed during our mission yesterday." She finished tightening the ribbon, hiding the many layers under her hair. "Now I wear this to allow people to function normally around me."

"But what are they?" Pyrrha was the most composed, but whether it was because she had fewer demons than her teammates, or because she could recover faster, was unknown.

"They're a punishment from a Goddess for my ancestor's transgressions." That would have them scratching their heads and potentially combing the library for answers to her riddle. "And though I can't see out of them, I can still 'see' the world in my own way."

"Yeah… okay..." Jaune tried to brush off the casual mention of a god, Remnant having long cast aside the shackles of religious superstition. "They seem crazy useful though. You just have to look at a Grimm and you'll send it packing."

Those eyes had been used to decimate armies and had once pulled down one of Salem's greatest creations at full power. With Aura applied correctly, the sense of hopelessness and doom routed enemies quicker than displays of power. They were weapons on par with Yang's Supernova and Weiss' Judgement.

"I hid them to protect you from them, not out of fear of rejection, but because their abilities should never be used outside of combat." Ruby reinforced Jaune's idea, stringing him along and letting him believe she was a still a Hunter and not the ruthless Commander her team knew her as. She'd hunted humans and protected them from each other more than she'd hunted Grimm.

Salem had been right in her argument with Ozpin: humanity was its own greatest enemy. Her children were nothing but nuisances to the four major Academies and served as points of agreement and cooperation rather than a force overwhelming.

Interesting outlook she'd be sure to share with Neo the next time she saw her.

Or maybe the history they'd been fed and manipulated with was wrong to begin with.

But no matter, she still had a duty to protect her people, whether it was from Ozpin's effective but indirect leadership, or from Salem's manipulations. This game between the two siblings was getting tiresome the longer they played it and the more they learned. And they still had no idea whether Neo had a stake in this or plodded along to screw with everyone else.

Whether Ozpin's goal was to outmaneuver Salem while in command of Beacon and use RWBY and his Hunters as weapons against her or to sit back and let his weapons defeat her on their own was yet another unknown. Summer knew firsthand the reach Beacon's Commander held in both force and political might, but his actions so far pointed to the latter.

Still, he could be manipulating events without them knowing. Neither Qrow's nor Blake's informant network were designed or concerned with the actions of their eccentric Headmaster as it was assumed he worked with them and not against. Which events he had his fingers in as Ozpin was unknown, but he'd had been around since before the Atomic Wars with different faces.

A sucking feeling on her radar snapped her from her thoughts, noticing as Ren had discreetly placed a hand on Pyrrha and Nora, his Semblance flaring to take in the feelings associated with her eyes, replacing them with calm. Against Grimm, Salem, and her, JNPR couldn't have a better Semblance, especially considering he was, or would be, their field medic.

Blake's clones were the next best medical option, one always remaining at a safe distance in case she was needed. It was one of their many, many useful options.

"Please don't bring them up again." Jaune gulped at the implied threat the smaller team leader gave him, not yet under the effects of Ren's Semblance. "I'd rather alleviate any confusion you have about our rather unconventional relationship if only to make sure none of you are uncomfortable with it."

"I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for what we heard so please, ignore my perverted teammates' idea of some morally questionable actions." Pyrrha was ever so eloquent with her words, much like Ruby, but she had a permanently kind tone whereas she had nothing.

She was so frustratingly nice in everything she did, so annoyingly kind in her demeanor, so disgustingly understanding in everything she did and would take anything with a smile, at least on the outside.

"We had a little too much to drink last night after a successful mission and our inhibitions went away," Yang said airily, waving her hand around, ignoring Jaune as he choked on air. The other three waited patiently for the punchline to kick in. "That'd be the reasonable explanation if we had a reasonable explanation. So yeah, your perverted teammates are right."

"Yes!" Nora jumped from her seat into a victory, comedic relief suspending her in the air until the reality of Yang's explanation crashed into her harder than she could swing Magnhild. "Wait, hold up, that means…" She pointed two fingers at Yang and Ruby. "Eww, eww, ewwwwww. That's so wrong!"

"According to whom?" Weiss sounded out while her head was stuck in her bowl, struggling to reach to the last bit of ice cream her spoon couldn't get. "The old and defunct religions of the past who couldn't get their arses out of their heads?"

The establishment was not one of Weiss' friends, not by a long shot, and if it wasn't for Ruby, she'd be an anarchist.

"Oh, and if you give me the 'because it's wrong' answer, I'm going to let Ruby spar with you, WITH her scythe." The crimson weapon gleamed ominously on Ruby's back, suddenly giving off a feeling much worse than the black voids she called eyes. It wasn't impending doom this time crushing them, but horror as the weapon became absolutely slathered in blood.

"You know, there's no logical reasoning why incest is frowned upon other than the perceived societal norm that it's wrong and it shouldn't be done." Ren took over the conversation, his Semblance spread thinly across his team to alleviate disgust and hesitance.

Blake had to give it to him, the manipulation being on the level Ozpin used with Qrow and Ruby used with them. At least they realized they were nothing but weapons to Summer and were fine being used as such. They had their duties, and it was comforting knowing they could be sent on the most dangerous missions without her hovering around and trusting they'd come back alive.

He probably didn't even know what he was doing.

Adorable.

"Ren, that's disgusting." Yang was hurt at Nora's words, her Aura core clamping down and her normal warmth replaced by the cold normally found within Weiss'. Ren, however, put on a strained smile and tightly gripped her hand, politely telling her to shut up. Wincing just a little at his handhold, she realized how insulting her remark could be taken and sent them a small look of apology.

Yang was about to respond when a hand on her thigh interrupted her, drawing her attention to Ruby's other hand. It was subtle, but the slight signal was enough to tell all of them they were to wait for her to take the lead. Either she'd planned this conversation in her head, or something had come up to be manipulated in their favor.

"Your opinions and morals only govern your own ethics and actions, but don't govern ours." Nora tried to get a word in edgewise, but the memory of those eyes had her balking and clinging to Ren's arm in comfort. "What we do in the privacy of our room isn't your concern, and neither are the relationships we keep with one another. The only reason you know now is because you four make up our sister team, and any secrets will have you snooping around trying to figure them out rather than trusting us."

Both Yang and Weiss snorted at that, Blake hiding a grin behind her book. Summer was far too controlling to leave such events to chance, and whatever conversation she was steering JNPR into had a goal. True, inter-team secrets and mistrust led to lower success rates on missions, but they had enough secrets to fill Beacon's library twice over.

This public venue also gave her control over JNPR's reactions, dampening the reactions Ren couldn't cover and keeping them from running around and throwing questions at them in return. They couldn't scream anything for fear of the secrets they'd entrusted in them being found out by a neighboring table, as so far, Nora's outbursts had been vague enough to avoid any suspicion.

Her alpha status as not only an extremely talented Hunter, but ruthless Commander, had the four gulping and keeping quiet, afraid those black marbles might make a return. Their primal instincts told them to shut the fuck up and run away, but decorum held them in their seats.

"But what you're doing is illegal!" Jaune hissed, wary of any wandering eyes from the nearby tables. "You two could get in so much trouble."

"The laws of Vale concerning incest contain no clauses against consensual incest, but the clause concerning it makes reproduction between two related individuals illegal, which doesn't concern us, as stated under Vale Revised Code § 2907.03." And there was another reason why only Summer and Ruby could be their leader: knowledge of both civil and criminal law along with Beacon's charter and the laws concerning the domestic and international movement and accountability of her Hunters.

Weiss was smart, probably the smartest of them all, but with her responsibilities now covering the SDC, the conversion of the mines from Faunus labor to mechanical, the planned manipulation and takeover of the Atlesian Council, the continued construction of Menagerie's CCTS Tower, and the reparations for her family's misdeeds, adding more responsibilities might break her.

Blake couldn't take over as leader either, her responsibilities already overrun with her ever expanding information network, the propaganda directed towards Faunus across the Four Kingdom, manipulating the Vale Council with Summer, and her coming confrontation with the White Fang and Adam.

And Yang had her own part to play, constantly acting as the team's emotional and moral stronghold, working overtime on Serenity's plans and upgrades and hoping the engineer's in Weiss' employ weren't entirely inept, overseeing the reconstruction of Mt. Glenn, planning their meetings with Raven and Sienna, and preparing to take over as leader of Team RWBY.

Everything was happening entirely too quickly, and they didn't need to get involved with whatever plans Summer had for JNPR. Their sister team would be kept in the dark until they finally finished their fight.

The response to Summer rattling off a series of random numbers was a unanimous 'huh?'.

"There is nothing within either Vale's or Beacon's laws forbidding a sexual relationship with Yang, and there is no reason, other than your own perceived societal norms as to why you believe it's wrong." Summer's statement had Weiss, Blake, and Yang openly gaping at her and, if they could see through the blindfold, they'd see an inkling of a twinkle in her eyes. She'd _never_ used guilt and shame before to manipulate, always preferring to take Nora's approach to subtlety and met out blackmail or bribery.

If she could understand guilt or shame then Ruby was far closer to emerging than they thought, and they didn't know if they should rejoice or mourn.

At this point, the author was entirely confused at keeping track of Summer, Mask, and Ruby and will henceforth screw with you, the reader, for the duration of this segment. By continuing to read, you accept these terms and conditions, and the author, Bloodrose, will take no responsibility for any mental and/or emotional injuries sustained from this chapter, and moving forwards, the rest of the series

Pyrrha slapped a hand onto Jaune's mouth before he could say something potentially insulting. "I'm sure the four of you'll be happy with each other and hope everything works out." She smiled creepily, unaware of how exactly screwed up most Beacon teams turned out when dealing with relationships, Team STRQ standing at the top of Ozpin's 'Most Fucked Up Teams' chart.

Though the pairings weren't entirely out of this world, seeing as Glynda had made a shit ton of Lien, the arduous journey to get to Yang and Ruby's birth was filled with sorrow, heartbreak, betrayal and lots of drinking. Not to mention Raven's abandonment, Qrow's absence, and Summer's death screwing it up even further.

Yeah, RWBY could've turned out far worse with a bubbly and naive optimist with abandonment issues as a leader, a dysfunctional and tightly-wound heiress, an emotionally distraught and identity-confused Faunus, and a shockingly passionate juggernaut with a tough exterior to tie them together.

Totally not a ticking time bomb waiting to implode given the slightest chance, like an impending war or the capture and torture of said optimist.

"Hope what works out?" A man JNPR had never seen before pushed Blake deeper into the bench and started to noisily destroy his breakfast of oats and milk. With his scruffy beard and tattered clothing, he could pass for a homeless bum. He did carry a scythe thought and the similarity had them looking at Ruby.

She wasn't giving quarter today though.

"Hi, umm, can we help you?" Jaune asked the man, unaware of who he was and why he was at their table. The man continued to eat his food, staring with his startling bright wine eyes and unnerving the blonde knight.

"Ruby, your sister team hasn't been paying attention in class." He placed the bowl down and squinted at the younger team, the four of them not sure what to make of this strange man. "You're telling me none of you know who I am?"

He got hesitant shakes from all of them.

"The curriculum's gone to shit since I went here then." He reached into his back pocket and took a sip from his flask before handing it to Yang. She looked confused only for a moment before happily joining him in a morning drink.

"Should both of you be drinking before the day starts?" Jaune asked, puzzled as to why Ruby wasn't saying anything to what was happening.

"Listen here kid." The strange man was interrupted by a healthy burp. "I am the definition of a functioning alcoholic, as I am the great and only Qrow Branwen!"

Weiss gave him a few claps for his performance of getting up and standing on their table, but the rest of them glanced at him blankly.

"And that's why you're my favorite niece-in-law." He jumped down and ruffled her hair, messing up the carefully arranged Relic still sitting there. He must've dug a little deeper with Ozpin's unlimited information access and discovered that tidbit.

"I'm your only niece-in-law unless you consider Winter another one, which would make your relationship…" She didn't need to finish her sentence, Qrow snatching his flask back and sprinting in the direction of the CCTS, presumably to call his other niece-in-law.

"Umm...what?" Sentiments shared across JNPR's side of the table.

"That was my father, also known as Beacon's information analyst and the second right hand to the Headmaster," Ruby explained.

"But then why did he call Weiss his 'niece-in-law'?" Pyrrha asked, almost dreading the answer.

"Because I'm his niece," Yang answered as if it was supposed to be a common

With light bulbs literally appearing above Jaune and Nora's heads, Weiss was forced to materialize a series of glyphs on their mouths to keep it quiet, the only sign she had done anything, a raised eyebrow.

"Congratulations. Shame we weren't invited, but I assume it was kept secret for a reason." Ren looked between the two newlyweds, unable to find anything different between their mannerism, other than their usual seats next to one another.

"It wasn't a secret, but more along the lines of there not being a ceremony other than us signing a marriage license," Weiss answered, leaning into Yang and resting her head on her shoulder, getting a head scratch for her trouble. She also got a look of envy from Blake until Summer pulled her into a hug and scratched her ears.

"Aren't you two a little young?" Pyrrha asked, watching Jaune tug futilely at the glyphs on his mouth out of the corner of her eye.

"We knew each other for over four years before we even started Beacon, and fighting with her by my side only increased my fondness for her." Yang pressed a kiss to Weiss' crown before lightly pushing her off. It wasn't information easily confirmed due to Weiss' status as a Schnee and Yang's placement into Signal.

"Don't you two find this a little weird?" Ren asked Ruby and Blake, wondering about the opinions the two had on this and how it affected how the two functions together and with their other two teammates. He already had a sneaking suspicion as to why it didn't affect anything.

"I'm married, and you can probably guess to whom." Blake smiled at the continued attention Summer continued to lavish attention onto her, a soft purr rumbling out of her chest and spreading to grant her leader some measure of peace.

Cue the four of them snapping their heads towards the Faunus, Jaune and Nora still unable to speak coherently other than a few monosyllabic and nonsensical exclamations of surprise and exhaustion. Those glyphs weren't coming off unless Weiss wished it, or Yang punched them hard enough to send them into Vale.

"But why? You're all so young. Wouldn't it have been better to wait until you were older?" The redhead continued to ignore the glares Nora and Jaune sent her, but Ren was slowly failing under his girlfriend's glare. Weiss enjoyed this little byplay, savoring his unease better than Rei could, the puppy currently napping comfortingly on Mask's lap within the mindscape.

"We've spent far more time together than just at Beacon. It's one of the reasons why the entrance exam was ridiculously easy for us, why we're constantly excused from team bonding exercises, and why we have such an unconventional relationship."

"Weird, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt," Pyrrha stated, looking over her teammates to see if they were in the same boat. Going by their Auras, Ren was the only one completely fine with their relationships while Pyrrha was a ball of uncertainty at the information revealed, minor disgust at Yang and Ruby's pairing, surprise at the married couples, and sadness and irritation directed at Jaune, for they were the obvious non-couple couple.

Mask smiled at the last emotions, tightening her hold on the Doors as they washed across her mindscape.

Nora and Jaune were nearly complete antitheses. Predictably, Jaune held an enormous amount of disgust at their relationship due to him having seven sisters, but also held sadness and anger Weiss was off the market, while ignoring the beauty next to him, and uncertainty to their marriages. Nora at least held the disgust within her eyes rather than her face, Ren helping her out with his Semblance and his grip on her hand.

"Will you be joining us for morning training?" Pyrrha continued after grabbing her tray, pulling a straggling Jaune up to follow. The glyphs keeping him silent would disappear once he left the hall, so, for now, he'd have to deal with being manhandled.

"No. We're recuperating after yesterday's mission, but I do have a task for you outside of your physical and personal training." Summer withdrew a small notebook from her leg pouch and slid it over to Jaune. "With your training coming along, it's time to focus on the development of your Semblances, and within the notebook, you'll find my notes on how I developed mine. In two weeks time, I want everything I've theorized your Semblances can accomplish, and more."

Pyrrha and Ren nodded, still willing to treat Ruby as the experienced and talented Hunter she was, but Jaune and Nora looked like they wanted to do anything but listen to her suggestion, weakly fighting against their captors but satisfied they were leaving.

"That went well." Weiss voiced sadly, her ice cream having run dry.

"Quite." Was the response from Summer as she watched the four familiar Auras disappear into the distance, each feeling something different but all feeling confusion.

The questions of their tattoos remained unspoken, the previous revelations either pushing them to the side, making them seem insignificant, or they hadn't grasped the meanings behind them.

The next few weeks would be a ball.

Yang, Blake, and Weiss were only slightly concerned when a wide smirk appeared on Summer's face, telling them something had gone right in her plans.

* * *

A standard Beacon-associated bullhead roared over the Vacuoan Desert, its engines startling the sparse life scattered in the sands below. Yang bemoaned the top speed of the craft, staring at the airspeed indicator and willing it to move upward, but much like her hard head, it refused. Though the bullheads weren't meant for high-speed pressurized travel, they could do in a pinch, especially until Weiss' lackeys finished their work on Serenity.

Blake occupied the time by spinning one of her knives between her fingers, amber eyes drilling into Summer's skull in their usual ballad of trying to figure out what she was planning. Her other hand was idly playing with Weiss; hair, the Lady of Snow resting her head on her lap and dozing lightly. Only a foot tapping in the air meant she wasn't entirely conked out.

Across from the pair sat Summer, ribbon removed from her eyes and Rei joining Weiss in a nap. Engrossed in her scroll, her haunting crimson eyes rapidly flicked over a spreadsheet as she carefully plotted the next moves the team would have to take before her inevitable death, dozens of lines connecting different points next to crossed out ideas and probability calculations. The next crucial maneuvers needed to at least be plotted, if not finalized.

"Why're you suddenly pushing JNPR away?" Weiss broke the silence, turning on her pillow's lap to crack a glacial eye and stare at Summer. Her baleful gaze was joined in by Blake's, the knife she was playing with returning to its place in its pouch. Summer briefly looked up to clash with Weiss, making a quick edit and then stowing her scroll, taking up petting her Grimm instead.

Ever since their morning conversation more than a week ago, JNPR had sat in a twilight zone with them, Ren being the only consistent member to interact with them, Jaune going as far as to push their regular morning practice back an hour to avoid them altogether.

Pyrrha tried to stay in contact with, sitting next to one of them during classes but couldn't get more than a few words in before either class started, or Jaune pulled her into a conversation. Stuck between finally getting some more attention from her love interest and keeping in touch with a friend, her heart won out most of the time.

Though the distance between the two teams had broadened, no member had leaked information about anything they had learned, their old bond at least invoking some level of loyalty to RWBY, but Summer could tell the blonde leader was itching to say something, either to her face or to an authority figure, if only to get them into trouble for his clashing morals. Nora was restrained by Ren, happily occupied with him and content to avoid thinking about their situation.

Neither Glynda, Qrow, or Ozpin gave any hint anything had changed between their standing, the flexible status of Summer as a higher-ranked Commander, while also a lower-ranked student, washed away by her ability to effortlessly and seamlessly switch roles. No one gave any fucks about the team's relationships with each other, separating the two aspects between their personal and professional lives.

"What makes a team 'great'?" Summer brokered, answered the question with another question. She enjoyed these teaching moments, willing to string them along until they came to their own conclusions rather than giving them all the answers.

"No, no words games, not now." Weiss sat up from her treatment, a funny lock of hair standing at attention from Blake's ministrations, eyes narrowed into tiny slits to avoid looking at Summer's glowing eyes at full force. "JNPR used to be our strongest ally within Beacon until you caused them to shy away from us, so talk."

"You've waited a week to ask your questions, so tell me, what changes has JNPR gone through since?" More word games, this time causing Blake to frown intensively and catalog the times she'd seen the team together.

"They avoid us, constantly." Weiss drawled sarcastically and rolling her eyes. "They sit away from us when they can, ask other teams to practice with them, and have even changed morning practice times."

"They've grown closer with each other," Blake whispered, voice barely cracking from lack of use, but still audible in the compartment. Weiss whipped her head around to make sure the Faunus had spoken, staring suspiciously until Blake reacted by blowing a raspberry her way.

Summer cut Weiss off before she could counter the point.

"Not to us, but to each other." She pointed out, getting a nod of confirmation from thankful Blake who never did enjoy speaking. Weiss stared between the two, wondering if they'd already discussed this beforehand and were playing a cruel trick on her where she couldn't see the answer in front of her.

"Conflict is the greatest motivator for improvement, and rather than their previous conflicts of trivial love affairs, I created an ethical and moral conflict they couldn't avoid and had to face head-on." Weiss frowned at her concern for her own relationship with Blake, but the Faunus understood better than anyone the exact level of care Summer gave her.

"Since their inception, JNPR has had no real conflict, either outside or inside the team. Jaune's minor altercations with Cardin have done nothing for his personal growth. Between us, we hold nothing but absolute trust, built over years of external conflict with both Atlas and the Fang, but more recently, the conflict's become internal as my death approaches, forcing the three of you to take on more responsibility and roles."

Weiss sat silent for a good minute, trying her hardest to ignore Summer's last words until she got a good mental smack from herself for doing exactly what she wasn't suppose and running from reality rather than facing it. She couldn't avoid Summer forever, not when everything they'd been planning relied on them continuing on after her.

She could only imagine what Yang was going through, having not only grown up with Ruby the longest, starting off as unwitting half-sisters, but now also having to take up her role as team leader.

They needed to grow up, Summer having no doubt already factored the terrible consequences into her Will and timeline, forcing RWBY into conflict with each other and with their sister team. She could already imagine her setting aside time to mourn and grow up within the timeline.

"Mask has also expressed her own designs for JNPR, wishing to create a rift between the two teams in order for them to care less about me and become more self-reliant rather than looking towards us for guidance." Summer cautiously explained, not satisfied the slightest her alter ego wanted to cut JNPR off for sentimentality's sake over a practical one, but it worked well enough within her own designs she could let it slide.

"Over these last few weeks, it's become apparent how much you three care and rely on me for my leadership, and I'd have liked nothing more than to get up and die alone in the wild weeks ago, but I've granted you months of continued guidance to make sure you can operate without me and continue the duty you're all sworn to perform. My own mortality's made me realize I won't always be there for you, and you won't always be there for JNPR, and I've done what I could to help."

"Fuck you!" Weiss reacted harshly, spitting the words across the fuselage, causing Summer to react oppositely and open her arms and ready to accept the brutal hug sure to come. Rei was thrown violently from her resting place as Weiss barreled into Summer with a sob, reality crashing around her, unable to escape anymore.

She was tired of running, a feeling Blake knew too well as she shuffled to Summer's side and rested her head. On the outside, to the world and Beacon, Weiss was an insurmountable wall, but she was nothing more than a child when it came to her feelings.

"Stop running, and let me go." Weiss only sobbed harder in Summer's shoulder, unaware everything she did caused Mask pain as she struggled to keep her grip on the Doors solid.

Yang watched from the short hallway to the cockpit with a sad smile. Taking a seat at Blake's side, she pulled the Faunus into her lap and let her silently grieve, those sensitive ears speaking loud and clear as they lay limp against her hair.

* * *

Lightning flashed outside of his office, illuminating his darkened workspace. His silver hair gleamed against the light as he sipped on his cocoa, smiling ever so slightly.

Storms such as this were rare, he thought as the rain pounded against the reinforced glass of his panoramic window. He could hardly see down into the courtyard, so heavy was the rain.

The wind howled through the tower, echoing deeply within the cogs of the gearwork in a haunting melody of nature's force. Thunder similarly roared across the landscape, chasing futilely after its sister in a permanent chase.

The heart of the storm was right above him.

Such peace during the school year was rare. Not only was the airspace almost constantly occupied with bullheads, but the chatter of students always soared up into his office in a comforting white noise.

This was a different sort of peace, making him drown out the pitter patter of the large raindrops with taps on his keyboard. It soothed his ancient nerves and he actually got work done without Glynda having to stand above him with her riding crop.

James got extremely lucky with her.

Lost in thought, he barely noticed the elevator door chime open until his guest stood in front of him, hair sopping wet and trailing water across his marble tiles.

"I just had these floors cleaned Yang." He bantered while still looking down at his paper (digital?) work, twirling a stylus absentmindedly.

His demeanor instantly shifted upon glancing up and catching her eyes, noticing they were startling crimson in iris shade, as was the skin around them.

She'd been crying, the rainwater obscuring the tears.

In her left arm she carried a small and latched file box, her other hand covered in minute traces of dried blood the rain hadn't washed away. The red hemoglobin tainted what it did, creating mesmerizing trails dripping delicately down her arm and onto the floor.

She placed the box on his desk before reaching into her pouch and removing a familiar emblem, placing it next to the box, the click of metal onto glass jarringly loud.

His blood turned to ice as he recognized the emblem as Ruby's silver moon, covered in soot and sitting innocently, tauntingly screaming something terrible had happened en route from Vacuo.

"I'm… I'm sorry." Yang spoke quietly, a choked cry of grief interrupting her halfway, eyes refusing to meet his.

That wasn't good enough for him. He wasn't about to accept the first successor he'd found worthy of following in his footsteps was suddenly gone.

"Where is she?" His voice was cold, warm brown eyes bleeding into impossibly bright silver. Yang flinched away upon spotting the color change, reminded of the connection he had to her leader. When she didn't answer immediately, he slammed his hands down onto the glass surface of his desk, cracking the display, and yelling, "Where. Is. She?"

"We burned her," Yang whispered in the same volume, but to him, the words were as clear as day, echoing in his ear and deep into his brain, making him fall back into his chair in stunned silence.

Confirmation.

His Commander was gone.

The last of his bloodline.

Ruby Rose was dead.

"How did she die?" Ozpin asked after a few minutes of silence, watching Yang closely to see how this affected her.

"Contingency: Prune was activated on the return trip from Vacuo." Yang's right hand, and only right hand, clenched when she spoke of the classified operation buried deep within their files to the point Qrow didn't have access.

It'd been a calculated move giving Qrow access to their files, making him believe he had everything on them while keeping the most sensitive and controversial documents hidden.

It was no wonder Yang had been crying when she walked in, having been forced to kill her own leader, sister, and lover if Glynda was correct, on her own orders in order to spare her from a fate far worse.

The blood on her arm only made the situation worse, Yang having never been injured in any spar she'd participated in.

Ruby had died by her sister's hand in a horrifically bloody battle, going by the thousand-yard stare in Yang's eyes.

"How are Blake and Weiss?" He pushed his cup of cocoa into her hands, forcing her trembling fingers to wrap around the warm ceramic, sending her a weak smile with it.

She took a deep steadying breath before daring to take a sip, the rich chocolate chasing away the vestiges of shock.

"They haven't said a word since…" She couldn't finish the sentence, taking another sip to steady her fragile nerves. "Weiss went to clean out our room, and Blake went to carve her name into the Stone, ignoring her last wishes."

"How long will the team need?" Ozpin asked, noting they weren't asking for time off but rather needing it to continue functioning. He unlatched the box Yang had left on his desk, glancing in to look across the several books worth of paper inside.

It was a copy of Ruby's Will, signed by all three members of her team and notarized by herself. At the bottom of their signatures was another, added only a few days ago rather than a week ago like the others.

A name he'd almost forgotten, for the girl had no name.

She'd signed with her original name, a name that'd taken him millennia to eke out of her.

She'd made a friend, and that thought brought a true smile to his weary face.

"Ruby asked us to be back just before the Vytal Tournament." Three months couldn't have been an arbitrary time and meant Ruby continued to mess with events after passing from the mortal plane. It was also more than enough time to grieve and for them to compose themselves and finish their late leader's plans.

"You have it, and for what it's worth, I'm sorry." His words got a weak smile that didn't reach her eyes and then a short chuckle.

"She despised you Ozpin, and she made no secret of it." She handed back his cup and straightened up, wiping a few tears from her eyes. His heart sank knowing the last of his children hated him, wishing beyond reason he could've done something, anything for her.

"For decades, you held the position of Headmaster, and for decades you did nothing but train the next generations of Hunters, actively avoiding the Faunus Revolution." Yang continued, voicing one of the, no doubt, many reasons Ruby held no love for him.

"And that's why I'm the Headmaster, and she the High Commander of her time." He could do nothing with the rules of the game he agreed to play by, lest Salem challenge him directly. His humans were meant to run free, without his interference, and Ruby knew that but she still didn't understand.

"I had my reasons." He intoned softly, leaving his trusty cup behind to pick up his cane. He poked Yang's leg to get her moving, making her follow him back into the elevator.

The usual elevator music was absent, leaving him alone with Yang and his thoughts, the latter asking how everything had fallen apart so quickly within the span of a few months.

First Summer, and then her daughter. Both amazing candidates set to succeed him, and both ripped away before their time. He hadn't even been able to ask the first, but Ruby had done a remarkable job of keeping Vale safe from present and future threats, even if her methods strayed from his.

Stalking out of the elevator and past the lobby, he was met with a torrent of rain ready to beat his body into submission. Yang was already soaked and didn't even seen to notice the rain, thankful it let her hide her pain from the world.

His hair was immediately plastered to his head within the first second, his clothes joining soon after in the next few. He let loose a grim chuckle, comparing it to the guilt weighing on him.

In the dead of night, with such a storm above them, not even the hardcore teams dared to train, leaving the campus empty, their path towards the main entrance unimpeded.

The thunder and lightning boomed and sparked around them, seemingly fueled by the emotionally destroyed Hunter next to him, following all the way until they stopped in front of the three flags behind the memorial stone in front of the landing pads.

The lower altitude winds stirred up the fabric, the sound of metal fastenings and loose string barely audible over the noise of rain and thought.

The left flag denoted the planet they all belonged to, and the right denoted the country of Vale, between them flying the flag of Beacon.

Depending on the occasion, one or both of the flags would be lowered to half-mast, depending on the importance of the death. For a politician, only the flag of Vale was lowered, and for a Hunter, both the flag of Vale and Beacon would be lowered.

But for the death of a Commander, especially the death of one of Beacon's, all three were lowered. It was the one and only case all three were lowered, and served as one of the most important markers in history.

A figure appeared next to him, coalescing out of the stark shadows created by the arcing lightning.

Among the many changes to the Faunus' body was the presence of Ruby's blindfold/ribbon around her neck. Added to this were the dozens of shallow but long cuts littered around every available patch of skin, each dripping blood down her form.

None of them seemed to be healing either, Blake seemingly unaware she was injured to begin with, unable or unwilling to channel the Aura needed to heal them.

It was her punishment for her failure to save Ruby.

Without a word shared between them, Ozpin stepped towards the center flag with Yang and Blake at his sides, lowering them in unison until they rested at half mast.

"Her Hunt has ended." Ozpin voiced the first part of the funeral rites, the storm granting a measure of silence.

"Ours has just begun." Another voice joined them, Weiss appearing behind him to join her team in finishing the rites. It wasn't the standard conclusion, but each team was allowed to pay their respects how they wished.

The storm picked up again, releasing another wave of rain to pelt and soak them further. Weiss looked rather injured to his eyes, but her own eyes spoke of an injury to her soul rather than her body. The Relic usually on her head rested clipped to her pouch, the color tone shifted from evergreen to a pale and sick olive.

Even a fragment of his former glory was mourning.

"I'll stand guard. You three are dismissed to recuperate until the Vytal Festival." They disappeared in showers of their respectively colored petals.

The rain instantly washed them away, but he grinned at the thought of Ruby watching over them from beyond their plane of existence.

Shifting into attention with his cane in his left hand by his side and right in a fist over his heart, he began his watch over the Stone, unable to prevent a tear from escaping his eye and falling to the ground.

* * *

14,639,441,056

That was the number of sentient lifeforms Salem and Ozpin had eradicated when they had decided to reset their universe and throw Team RWBY back to their original. It was an unforeseen casualty of resetting one universe and had seen the reset cascading into the closest parallel universes.

But it had all been worth it for the priceless treasure she now had.

It'd taken countless millennia of aimless wandering before she'd found the perfect being for her plan: a being created from a god, completely stripped of humanity, and then molded by nature into the perfect martyr.

A blood red orb shone brilliantly in her hand, illuminating a small but sinister smirk. Her multicolored eyes danced in enjoyment as she finally had the last piece of her plan.

Manipulating the two gods had taken an exhausting amount of precision.

Only the meetings with Ruby had made it worth it, but in the end, even she'd fallen to a demise of her own making, with some help from the pet Grimm she kept in her mindscape.

Getting Salem to part with a fraction of her Grimm creation wasn't much of a challenge, given she was receiving the last of Ozpin's mortal remnants and crippling the Silvereyes into obscurity.

Making sure Jacques Schnee was dead wasn't a problem either, seeing as Ruby had planned his death long before she needed pressuring into it.

Menagerie fell into line soon after.

The only hiccup was how early Ruby had died in the timeline. She'd left the White Fang entirely unmolested, obviously preferring to crush them all at once during the Vytal Tournament.

It needed to be crushed and/or assimilated before she got around to the last step of her plan, or all of the subplots within the main plots would go to waste and she'd have to do actual work for the first time in a very long time.

All she could do now was wait.

And she could do a hell of a lot more waiting.

The nightmare child juggled the ball of crimson in her hands, content Ruby's soul was safe until she needed it.

* * *

 **0**

* * *

 **AN:** Don't hate me, enjoy my political commentary, and cookie to whoever figures out which law Vale Revised Code § 2907.03 is based on.


	24. Rebirth

Chapter Twenty-Four

* * *

 **Rebirth**

* * *

She was gone.

Gone, leaving nothing but four items to remember her by.

Ruby's scythe rested by Yang's side now as she flew their bullhead to places unknown. She honestly couldn't care less where she was taking them, content to sit on the metal flooring and let the rough traction marks dig into her skin. She could've run them into the ground in a fiery ball of fire Dust in only to help the pain.

Her blindfold was on her neck, mimicking the style she had worn for the longest time before she'd so selflessly given away her sight in a deal Salem had never reciprocated on. It'd been a blindfold for so long, being used every day as an insult to a god's promise, it wasn't a simple ribbon anymore.

Her vambraces had also been pulled and now graced her forearms, two more places to jam pack full of knives while also offering protection in close quarters. Of the two original blades, one was still in Pyrrha's possession, and the other was put to rest with Ruby.

Then there were the memories she left behind for all of them. From their crazy and soft beginnings at Beacon, she'd wormed her way in and established herself as a leader. The uncertain start of the Second Great War saw her through challenges related to keeping them together rather than leading against Grimm.

The subsequent capture, torture, and rescue of her from the Black Site, her reconstruction, and rehabilitation had destroyed the girl emotionally and mentally, but she'd come out with a sense of purpose her old self didn't have, evolving into a Commander with the drive needed to see the war to an end.

She'd gone so far as to pretend to love and care for her teammates, even if every indicator of emotional health pointed to her not being able to understand and reciprocate them, just to make sure they could operate with some semblance of normality.

And towards the end, she believed Summer actually cared for them.

Only those feelings were the reason why she died in the end, and she'd give anything to be able to hold her again and delude herself into loving a broken psychopath instead of the fragments of Ruby she got over the last weeks.

So it only made her death hit harder, the moment Yang's hand had pierced through her chest, obliterated her heart, and torn Rei's gem from her body refusing to leave the forefront of her thoughts.

And what made it even worse?

A single thought that drove the spike in further?

Summer had let Yang kill her.

She didn't possess the pride to fight them without her shields raised, already outnumbered 3-to-1 and facing an assassin who could slip through her radar, an absolute Aura monster of a brawler, and a master of using her Semblance to trap opponents.

Yang had meant to pummel her into the ground, catching her in the air after Weiss had cut off her ground movements, and Blake had her clones spread around to predict where she'd move next.

But she'd underestimated the lengths Summer would go to ensure Remnant could exist without her, and in her zeal to save Summer from herself, she'd never expected her to die without a calamitous battle.

She could only come to the conclusion, and hoped Yang and Weiss had come to it too, Summer had lost whatever fight she waged against her primary personality, and rather than let Ruby decimate Remnant in a haze of angst, vengeance, and misplaced rage, she'd taken the last vestiges of control over her body, trapped herself between her three teammates, and dropped her shields.

All the while smiling infuriatingly and forgiving them for what they had to do.

It didn't lessen the violent nature of her death, the noises associated with it forever bouncing in her skull.

The sickening and dull crunch as Summer's sternum caved under Yang's Semblance.

The disgustingly wet squish of her heart exploding and damaging her lungs.

The soft and final cough of blood.

The screech of Rei's gem against the backplate as it punctured straight through.

The horrifying silence as Yang realized what she'd done and screamed Ruby's name, struggling to remove her arm from her leader's body.

Frozen by the shock, she could only stare blankly as Ruby lightly booped her on the nose, her mouth forming three final words, her lungs unable to draw air anymore and her consciousness fleeing rapidly.

Those words had broken something inside Yang, their new leader refusing to speak more words than necessary as she removed Ruby from her arm and stood by, watching silently, as she'd rushed forward and knelt by her side, gently caressing her fallen leader's hair.

Weiss' glacier eyes melted, sending rivulets of tears cascading down her cheeks, eyes screwing up in pain, unable to look down onto the gruesome image.

They couldn't do anything about the hole in her chest, but they arranged her to look as if she was sleeping, a smile still etched on her face.

Each taking something of value to remember her by, Yang activated the final form of her Semblance, the technique she'd tried to teach her younger self, and deconstructed Ruby's body into the most basic atoms, keeping in line with her wishes.

Separating the complex chains of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats had decimated her reserves, the endothermic process greedily pulling at the energy she supplied until she had nothing left. She stopped the process before she annihilated the matter, leaving the dust to intermingle with the sand.

She'd joined the Vacuoan desert, much like the people her predecessor's had annihilated during the first Great War.

Her body was the last of a god's bloodline, and even though a goddess had found no use for it, it didn't mean it was worthless. The secrets of a Commander and the Silvereyes rested in her, and she'd haunt them from the afterlife if she didn't utterly destroy her.

Rei's home had been taken by Weiss, the girl clutched onto it as an anchor, and though she had cleaned it as well as she could in her near-catatonic state, red blotches dotted her white clothing.

She didn't seem to notice them, letting them remind her of what she lost, following her own footsteps of not healing the injuries sustained from Summer.

Whatever tears they had were far run out, leaving only raw red surrounding their empty eyes to complete the look of utter loss and grief.

If only Ruby could see them now, three shells of the Hunters they once represented, sitting dejectedly in the confines of a bullhead instead of getting their act together.

A cold and dry laugh echoed around the fuselage, making her realize she had made the sound and no one else, catching the attention of Weiss.

"Summer would've smacked us for sulking." Those angry and sullen irises morphed into hard understanding. They could cry, mourn, and curse their luck after they were done, but until then, they needed to be strong for each other.

It was a visage Weiss knew best.

Wiping the last of her dried tears away, she worked her way up to standing on unsteady legs, softly brushing at the dried blood on her shirt and slacks in a futile effort to get rid of them. They refused to budge, the scratching only spreading the red around further.

"She'd throw us into a training montage, I know." The cylinder of her rapier offered a deep comfort, each click soothing a frazzled nerve. Almost always filled with Dust to augment her glyphs or as backups for Blake, the function served more as a stress toy than a rotating chamber.

The idea of an interchangeable Dust contraption had seemed like a boon to her younger self, but the actual act of drawing Dust from the cylinder didn't depend on which chamber was in its 'proper' spot. After a few years, each Dust 'felt' different from any other, and explained how Blake could store different Dusts within her sheath and still know which clone type she was creating.

Blake laughed as images of Yang struggling to control her new glyphs, Weiss creating broken clones, and herself running into walls played in her mind to the soundtrack of 'Seven Nation Army'. It was a warm jingle of wood chimes, but her smile didn't reach her eyes, nor did those eyes glow her usual amber, reflecting a tarnished brass.

Walking into the barely illuminated cockpit, the day-night cycle of lights finally starting up again, they found a Yang meditating with eyes barely cracked open, Crescent Rose resting lightly against her leg.

Grimacing, Blake reached into the first aid kit and removed a lengthy roll of bandages before crouching by Yang's side and grabbing her right hand, searing the wounds shut and harshly shifting the bones of her knuckles back into place.

Yang gave no reaction to them entering the room, or Blake grabbing her hand and manhandling it back into place, rather relishing the burst of pain from the resounding cracks, and letting her wrap her hand expertly. She said nothing to reprimand her for self-mutilating her hand, Yang similarly not reprimanding her for not healing her own wounds.

"Ruby wouldn't have wanted for you to hurt yourself." Weiss consoled once Yang's hand was wrapped, planting herself down on her lap and rubbing the injured limb. Their leader's name caused Yang to flinch, a dull pain throbbing through her arm.

"Don't…" Yang pulled her hand away sharply. "Don't use her memory like that."

"If I don't then you're going to sit in this chair and mope." She looked out the windshield, taking note of the sliver of land on the horizon after the expanse of water. Whatever light in the world was coming from behind the ship, casting a long shadow in front of them.

"I hate both of you." If Summer could learn to use guilt than Weiss was sure as hell going to use it against her. Blake wasn't going to answer to using Ruby against her, her fake smile plastered on as a shield, punching her on her arm softly in solidarity. "She'd hate to see me like this."

Weiss nodded against her chest, tucking her head under her chin and listening to Yang's rhythmic heartbeat. It wasn't the most healthy way of thinking about their leader, using her memory to keep pushing on. Effective as hell, but something or someone would break at some point.

"Signal?" Blake queried as the bullhead crossed onto land, still resting by Yang's side and using her leg as a headrest, carefully watching the radar readout and the color change from blue to green reflecting into the cockpit. Yang subtly shifted her leg in confirmation.

"Tai hasn't seen Ruby in months, and I'm not telling him she died through a text message or video call." Cue Weiss and Blake winching in unison, dreading the upcoming conversation. No doubt Yang had messaged Ozpin during the flight to prevent the notifications from going out until they reached Signal.

The four major Academies across Remnant would stand at attention for a rare morning memorial before going on to their regular duties, but those within Vale, Beacon and their subsidiaries included, would ask questions and wonder what happened.

These were questions Ozpin wouldn't want to answer, but Blake had forced his hand by carving Ruby's name in the Stone. She'd be remembered for her role as a Commander, regardless if Ozpin sealed or redacted her files, and he'd have to act to save his own skin, jumpstarting his active role in the coming conflict.

Ruby's Will held enough secrets they had to go over later, but she was far too shrewd to not use her death to move her plans forward. Either she forced Ozpin to act during the Vytal Tournament to answer for the death of his successor, or he'd pass the position to Qrow, a man Ruby had already manipulated through the Glenn mission to believe actions spoke louder than words.

She'd never understood how she could see all of these connections and make all these contingencies, but the woman had suffered and fought for years to get where she had been, the terrifying Commander of Beacon.

"Qrow at least has Winter, Ozpin, Glynda, and James to rely on, but Tai's all alone on Patch, with nothing more than a weekly scroll call to keep in touch and interact with us," Yang added, pressing a combination of buttons on her side of the console, the engines dropping from their cruising speed and rotating to their descent angle.

This was her way of coping with Ruby's death, charging headfirst into her dad's arms, ready to accept his punishment for failing to do the one job he'd entrusted her with. Whether he deserved the truth about her death and their dimensional hopping was a decision she'd make for them in the moment. Ruby probably had something in her Will to deal with Tai, but this was a decision she had to make, taking the first step to making decisions for the team and not following Ruby's decisions anymore.

The incoming chatter of Signal's tower grabbed her attention but the transmitted clearance codes granted them access to the landing pads without a word from her, the operator rushing them through to a vacant spot.

The sun was just peaking over the horizon as she set the craft down, the flags at the entrance of the school flying proudly against the backdrop of the vast sea. Academies always loved to be situated either against water or on top of mountains to gain not only gain space allowance but a wider view.

Taking her scythe and ignoring the pain coming from her hand associated with moving the enormously heavy weapon, she powered down the craft. Though she already had Ember Celica wrapped around her wrists, she didn't possess Ruby's backplate.

Not one to usually show struggle, Blake took instant notice of the tendons flexing in her arm and the clenching teeth. Having only ever seen the schematics of the weapon, she could only imagine the weight of the dense metal pulling at the fresh injuries. Yang wouldn't let them heal for the same reasons they didn't heal theirs.

Unlatching the vast array of clips keeping her own backplate in place, she shimmied out of the accessory and handed it over, Yang only nodding her head in acceptance before slapping the plate on over her outerwear. The powerful electromagnets held the scythe in place, charging from Yang's latent shielding and leaving her hands free.

Despite Yang dwarfing her leader in size, the weapon still seemed out of place. She just didn't know whether this was due to the size or the burning fact Crescent Rose was Ruby's and should've only ever been wielded by her.

The campus was quiet on every side, the light rattle of the turbines spinning down the only indication of any life. Fitting Gambol Shroud across her back using her forearm ribbons, she followed out into the brisk morning air, her wounds sending hundreds of signals of aggravation.

Couldn't her body understand she wanted this, a constant reminder what had happened was real? That this wasn't some twisted illusion made from her mind or Neo? That she wanted to hurt because she had failed?

Another shock of pain as her calf convulsed, Weiss stepped up to her side and wrapped an arm around her in support. Her treacherous leg got a quick look of annoyance before a blast of Aura soothed the pain away, Weiss getting an affectionate nuzzle before they continued forward.

Ruby's former rank still gave them access to the main residential building for the professors and staff, Yang patiently waiting by the door for them to catch up. She wondered whether Ozpin or his next successor would remove her authorization, or whether they'd still be allowed to use it.

Guilt was a strong motivator, and with everything they had done to slow or diminish the Fang's strength while growing their own, along with the Academy's, she honestly believed they deserved it. Regardless of which dimension they sat in, Ruby didn't sit idly and actually used her position for the betterment of the world, and she wasn't sure if her successor would do the same.

All her work could go down the drain.

Every single classified or redacted mission could be broadcast on the public servers if an enemy got through their defenses, or if her successor was lax in security.

The mission against Jacques Schnee would destroy the team's reputation, funds, and company, but Mt. Glenn and the information on the existence of her network would destroy Beacon's. Their mission to Vacuo would further draw divides across the planet, Ruby's dealings with Sienna drawing the eyes of the Fang and the Council, and Prune would bring into question a whole new set of moral and ethical questions to the code and charter the Hunters acted on.

Though she knew Ruby despised Ozpin, she also knew she needed him as the face of her administration, seeing as he knew the ins and outs of political machinations and could bury bad public relations under enough red tape; the scalpel to her hammer. She couldn't just attribute those to his rumored godly nature but had to give it to his rumored unending pool of knowledge.

He kept from interfering for a reason, and not out of ignorance or a pact made with Cinder as Ruby would believe. Deeper down, in the part that had successfully killed her, she knew the god avoided attachments to those who wouldn't stay with him, and her death would hit the hardest in a long time.

What that meant for Neo was another story, as she was either young enough to fight through the emotional loss of her connection to Summer, or old enough to easily comes to term with it. Countless times Neo had hinted she was several millennia older than either Ozpin or Salem, but countless times the other two deities had brushed her aside as either a child or an equal. Her age was less of a need-to-know curiosity and more of a gap in her information network, and those gaps annoyed her from both a practical and childish perspective.

Practical, as misinformation or lack of information lead to mistakes, and childish, as it was a secret she just wanted to know. How dare the midget immortal keep secrets away from her prying eyes? They were her currency, and the better secrets traded away for influence or money.

Having taken over as the guide for her automatically functioning body, Weiss took her hand and dragged her after Yang, their new leader silently keeping track of them by adjusting her pace as they climbed the stairs to Tai's suite, but saying nothing otherwise.

Lost in their own worlds, they didn't notice as Tai took far longer to respond to their knocks than an on-duty Hunter should've. The door cracked open with a sluggishness reserved for the weary, their father standing in her pajamas and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, the familial trait of a cowlick sticking prominently up.

"Hi, dad." Yang greeted softly, aware this school wasn't quite up to par against Beacon's morning standards, a small smile etched on her face. She and Weiss said nothing, only nodding their head to greet the Hunter.

"Good mor-" A jaw-cracking yawn interrupted his return message as he simultaneously stretched out the morning kinks from her body. "-ning." Grabbing his scroll from the table by the side of the door, and squinting as the bright light washed over his eyes, he sent them a glare. "It's barely 6 in the morning. Couldn't you have come, I don't know, in the afternoon, like reasonable people."

"We flew from Beacon on Ozpin's orders," Yang replied with fake cheek, Blake far too adept to miss the exaggerated microexpressions.

"What does the old coot want now? And where's Ruby? I haven't seen her in months." He didn't miss them flinch in unison at her name, the other two team members wondering how Yang would handle breaking the news to him.

He looked over the three of them with suspicion when Yang refused to respond, taking note of the injuries across their forms. He knew they were skilled enough to apply their Aura to heal them, and the sudden silence made the tension rise.

Weiss' bloodied form made him blink in surprise, Blake's numerous scratches got a puzzled look, and Yang's bandaged hand threw him for the loop, but it was Ruby's scythe on Yang's back that finally woke him up entirely.

To him, her scythe was a one-of-a-kind personal project. She'd nearly bitten Yang's arm off when she was first assembling it and remained vastly possessive over it. To have Yang wearing it on her back, Ruby not here, and them flinching at her name, he could only conclude something terrible had happened to her.

"Where's your sister Yang?" Her hand clenched at the word and Tai suddenly knew. The tear coming from her amethyst eyes only slammed the last nail home, and he was found with his daughter rushing up and clamping down onto him in a hug.

Whatever words she tried to get past her lips were lost in a mess of hiccups and sobs. Blake and Weiss stood by, muscles locked in place to give her time to grieve in her father's arms, despite their rationales telling them to join her in some comfort.

It was twice Yang had now failed in her duty to protect Ruby, and she wouldn't get a third chance. Ruby had forced Prune into its secondary and last phase, not explicitly by giving the order for her own death, but by throwing herself into the line of fire and taking the choice away from them. Somewhere in her Will, they'd hopefully find some explanation to why Prune had been forced through.

"She's- gone." Another set of hiccups wracked her body as she slumped limply into Tai's arm, the man letting her pull him down to the floor in a heap of shock and disbelief. His arms moved automatically to console her, a reaction from times spent doing the same after nightmares, to instill some measure of comfort in her, his mind still racing through her words and actions, looking for, grasping for any possible double meaning to them.

He looked up from his place on the ground to witness the other two team members standing within touching distance to her, hands tightened around their respective weapons and eyes hard but glassy, filled to the brim with unshed tears.

Seeing the emotional turmoil rip through Yang only made the storms within them churn violently, each of them stepping forward to place a hand on her shoulder and squeezing in solidarity. Though she refused to meet their eyes, the simple touch spoke volumes, letting her know they were there and going through this together.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she let the weight of Crescent Rose pull her off of dad's lap, the scythe weighing against her consciousness far more than it could against her back and shoulders.

"How?" Tai's whisper was barely audible in the hallway, his amethyst eyes hardening into pure crystal, despite the presence of tears threatening to spill down his cheeks. The barely visible anger of the borderline S-rank threatened to spill over, waves of heat seeping out into the air.

"Classified," Blake answered, emotions summarily locked away behind a wall of professionalism, but he wasn't a teacher for nothing. Faunus has enough visible traits to separate them from their human counterparts, and most of those parts displayed their emotions on their sleeves; the fine hairs along her limbs raised, her ears frazzled and darting in every direction, claws unsheathed, and irises narrow and piercing.

Frustration was written across her form clear as day, but it wasn't a frustration directed at him, or at Yang, or even herself, rather directed at the world. He'd seen this in stuck up prodigies and orphans, children who believed the world had wronged them in some way, not in Beacon students, and especially not in potential assassins.

"What do you mean, 'classified'?" Her words caught up to his lagging brain, finally shooting past his observations, ire stampeding the growing grief in his system, Hunter persona steamrolling father-figure to figure out exactly how his girl died. "Tell me how my daughter died!"

Yang didn't react to his order, hand still limply gripping his but violet eyes noticeably dimmed and unfocused. Weiss averted her gaze, flinching at the too familiar tone coming from a father figure, this one coming from someone she actually gave a damn about.

But Blake was in her element, used to open hostility, usually to her rather exotic features, but more recently stemming from her multiple positions within the four main Councils and their militaries.

The smile reserved for her team was not the one on her face. Tai knew he had made a mistake, a familiar feeling of dread suppressing his emotions, memories of a time getting dredged from his mind, where Summer and Raven would smile creepily and then kick him in his balls.

"All related files pertaining to the Hunter known as Ruby Rose, including those pertaining to her death and her mission record, are sealed under the orders of both the 3rd and 4th Hunter Commanders of Beacon with a clearance level of S." It was his turn to flinch at her words, decades of training fighting against his instinct to travel to Beacon and demand information from Ozpin and whoever his successor was, and question the gall of who dared keep it from him.

"Were you with her, when she di-" The last word cough in his throat, unable to be vocalized as another lance of grief shot through his heart. The three of them hesitantly nodded, eyes following the motions of Yang's head to follow her orders. "Was it... quick?"

Yang flinched away from his question, suddenly taking stock at her situation to stare down in horror at her own bandaged hand, violet eyes jagged with horror. Before he could ask what had frightened her so, she disappeared down the hallway and out of his sight, chased by a trail of pale yellow rose petals.

Weiss was gone a moment after, following her in a wash of white petals, sending him a quick look of apology but leaving Blake to deal with him. Offering him a hand, she pulled him up to his feet, her glowing golden eyes cooling to a brisk amber tinged with sorrowful orange.

She was expecting this, for Yang to immediately break down in front of Tai and then run away from answering questions, and then Weiss to use her running away as an excuse to chase after her and leave her to deal with Tai.

Not even twelve hours in and Yang had abandoned her position as leader and switched from barrelling into Tai with a purpose, to running away faster than Nora could devour a plate of pancakes. It was a show for the team while on the bullhead, but she was never one to hide her emotions needlessly, not in the face of her dad.

Bipolar disorder anyone?

Ruby had made her her executor for a reason it seemed, predicting the immediate incineration of the established status quo as they failed to comprehend the lack of leadership, and failed to establish a new status quo with Yang as their leader.

The mind games of their former leader continued to affect them. She wasn't mindless enough to believe Ruby had entrusted the leadership role to Yang to split up the taxing workload of the team, but as another test for them. This was Yang's test, not as a teammate, wife, or lover, but as the continued emotional stronghold for them.

How she did determined how the team functioned in the near future, especially considering their return to Beacon was planned for just before the Vytal Festival.

Breaking from her thoughts, she knelt by Tai's side and hoisted him to his unsteady feet. Letting him lean on her for support, she moved him back into his suite and set him on his couch. Taking a seat next to him, she simply sat in silence and waited for the questions he surely had.

"How did she die?" The sudden shift from the growing silence startled her from her thoughts, hand briefly clenching on the hilt of the knife hidden in her new vambraces, the gunmetal offering a soothing chill reminding her of her late leader.

"Classified." The same question wouldn't get a different response, despite Tai most like mistaking the reasoning she had said the same to the first question to Yang and Weiss' presence, no doubt being pulled into the loop about her information network. "But I can tell you she died with no regrets, and we were all there she was passed."

Tai's fists clenched near imperceptibly before relief spread through his body. "That was far more than her mother received." Another brief silence as he wiped a falling tear. "What is so terrible about how she died that Ozpin and his successor had it sealed, even from me? It couldn't have been so bad if you're still here and not following Yang in tears."

He got a creepy smile for his inquiry, reminding him exactly how he'd classified the Faunus during their first meeting. She'd shown only a glimpse of restrained power in their spar, and she'd just come off of eight months of training in Beacon. At this point, she was likely above him in just sheer ability, not even counting his months of languid teaching against him.

"The only reason I'm not losing it right now is that I'm the only functioning person left to close out the team's affairs before we go on temporary leave, part of which includes notifying her next of kin. In the event of her death, Ruby trusted me to ensure her will was enacted, and keep the team functioning until Yang could take over as leader."

Another flinch from him, a reminder every experienced Hunter within Beacon had a will, or at least the makings of one. Most first years didn't, due to the low chance of incurring fatalities on approved missions, but Ruby had been raised within the Hunter community, and no doubt mad one made within the first weeks.

"I can't stay long as my team needs me, but I want you to know she cared for you, and I'm sorry I have to be the one to tell you this." She leaned over and hugged him tightly. "We all loved her too, and I don't know if we'll ever be the same after this."

Squeezing once more, she left him to brood and strode to the door, mentally reprimanding herself for crossing her usual 100-word threshold per encounter. This one meeting had made her verbally speak more than she'd done with her team over the last month, and she could only dread the coming meetings with several different Councils and factions where she'd have to act as the team's proxy.

She wasn't Ruby.

She couldn't walk into a room and intimidate everyone to follow her and her alone. She held neither the political wit to battle with words nor the bloodlust to enforce her will. She could, however, bring her sheer skill to the stage and wipe the room's inhabitants from life itself, but that wasn't particularly useful when say they needed to finagle the plans for a CCTS tower from a Council.

She could steal those.

"Qrow and Raven will be arriving at Beacon around noon to discuss the ramifications of Ruby's death, and question Headmaster Ozpin about the circumstances." Tai's head snapped up immediately when she mentioned his separated wife, wondering how exactly she could know the whereabouts or movement of two off-the-grid individuals, one of which had gone AWOL close to two decades ago. She was out the door in a spray of deep violet petals, leaving him to grieve and think.

Raven's presence was only due to Ruby's interference while they had a mission within Vacuo, having tracked the Branwen to her hideout through some hidden method only accessible to her or other Commanders. Though what she had offered her was locked within her Will, a crucial piece of her master plan they needed to see it through as she had made the meeting behind closed doors, taking it as her Commander rather than her niece.

Yang had sent her mother flying across Vacuo after the meeting was over, expressing her affection in the way she knew best; an empowered punch.

With the return of Team STRQ, one of Ruby's many contingencies for the Vytal Festival was coming to a close, though not the way she envisioned. Qrow or Raven would most likely be asked to take up the position as the 5th, rather than direct subordinates to the 4th.

The unfortunate occurrence of Ruby's return meant Beacon's S-rank pool dropped to six, including a neutral Neo. Combined with Qrow and Tai most likely upping their own training to join their last teammate, they'd have eight, plus Hearth's two, S-ranks to defend Amity, Beacon, and Vale from the White Fang assault.

Such a congregation of high-tiered Hunters had never happened in the history of Remnant, not even during the Great War, and even just their combined presence could spark another War from the other two countries, both severely underpowered, but still fearful of the two superpowers.

She could only hope Ruby had something planned for after the Vytal, or they could be thrust into another unavoidable conflict completely separate from the White Fang rebellion. War was simple when, like weapons, they could be pointed at the biggest threat on the map and told to eliminate it, not when it was waged across decentralized cells and fear mongering.

That war had been lost before they even jumped into this dimension, only stymied by her return to Menagerie. If Summer had been sure assassinating the Council and reinstalling Ozpin as a monarch wouldn't have caused a civil war among the populace, the remaining life of their members could've been counted in hours.

Hmm.

Food for thought.

Following the duo colored trails of petals out into the courtyard, she found her two teammates kneeling side by side the trio of flags. Yang was heavily slumped within Weiss' arms, the latter's arm gripping the former's right arm to make sure she didn't cut it off in a depression fueled moment, crimson seepings through the bandages regardless.

With flags already lowered, she took her place by Weiss' side and began stroking Yang's hair, taking the small amount of comfort in it before she collapsed into a sobbing mess, the pain of having to maintain her professional demeanor too much to bear. Weiss pressed Blake's head into her shoulder, leaning her own against her's, letting the waterworks loose after almost an entire night of repression.

They could be Hunters later.

For now, they were the sisters and lovers of their late Commander.

* * *

He was finally pulled from his thoughts by a set of heavy knocks on his door, making him wonder how much time he'd sat on his couch in a stupor, the sun filtering through his window agitating his sight.

The one thing he had to remember Summer by was gone, taken from him while he was away doing his job for the future of Vale. He didn't want to blame Yang too much, but one of the few reasons he'd let Ruby go to Beacon was because he knew Yang would be there to watch her.

He'd been further overjoyed when they'd been placed on the same team, guaranteeing she had some protection from the darker elements of their world. But Yang had ultimately failed in the one job she'd been entrusted in. And he didn't even have the reconciliation to know how she died, getting rebuffed by Ozpin sealing her records.

Yang had only made his suspicions worse, her adverse reaction to him asking how Ruby had died confirming she had failed in protecting her. Moreso, a first-year team should've never been on an excursion without at least one experienced Hunter to oversee the mission, one capable of dealing with any potential problem.

Her team had disappeared just as quickly as they had appeared and torn his world asunder, professionally notifying him of Ruby's death. Blake had been beyond professional in her demeanor, sans the hug she gave him, but those golden eyes held a haunting pain he had only once experienced before when Summer had died.

Though she never vocalized it, or made it truth, he knew she had loved Ruby more than she revealed, and she'd never be the same without her.

They all must've cared for her to some degree, all of their reactions speaking to some level of attachment to one another, and he hoped they survived their leader's death better than STRQ hadn't survived theirs.

But there were still answers he needed.

And he'd get them, just as soon as he pulled on some more appropriate clothes and dusted off his flying skills. Then he'd punch Qrow off the cliffs for not protecting their daughter more, locate where Yang had disappeared to and hug her, and punch her, then…

Then he'd have to figure out whether to kiss Raven or have her follow her family's path down into the Beacon lake.

* * *

They had started the morning later than usual, Jaune adamantly refusing to risk meeting RWBY outside of classes. The rift Jaune and Nora had created between the two teams only served to make them outcasts from their year group, separating them from the usual operating pairs of teams, and over such a minor dispute such as who they chose to take to bed.

Those two had been painfully civil to the team, keeping their meetings short and concise, at most asking for help with some work here or there, but never agreeing to train or make discussion during their lunch period.

Such a shame because the notebook Ruby had handed them over a week ago was chock-full of information and ideas regarding new and interesting usages of their Semblances. Though they had shared only brief glimpses of how their Semblances operated, mostly due to their own experiences with them, she had run with what little theory she had and created several different exercises to test their limits.

The mystery of how she wrote in the notebook never really occurred to her, chalking it up to her figuring out how to ignore the disability much like how she could walk and fight anyways.

For Ren, she had theorized if he could blanket an area with his Semblance, he could theoretically cause entire hordes of Grimm to disappear due to a lack of negativity to fuel them, and with the same application, make enemy combatants do the same, removing their will to live to literally die on the battlefield or run as hopelessness coursed through them.

For Nora and her, she had brought their Semblances to near-microscopic levels, oddly choosing to focus more on their usages against human combatants than against Grimm. Nora, she had theorized, could augment her own neural network with her Semblance, and her own bioelectricity, to gain tremendous strength and speed. Following in a similar pattern, she could interrupt other's bioelectricity in battle to cripple the communications between the brain and nervous system.

Her own polarity control took a heavily dark turn when Ruby had theorized that, if she gained enough control over it, she could eventually learn to control the minute traces of iron within a human body, essentially hijacking it. That idea had been hastily scratched out though with a note saying the ratio in a body was too low to actually make any significant changes, but had wrapped right back around and made it infinitely worse, theorizing she could cut off entire limbs from oxygen by blocking veins and arteries with the iron in the blood and hemoglobin, or induce a stroke with little more than a touch.

Jaune had a few notes highlighting the potential for a Semblance dealing with choosing to take hits for his teammates, but nothing more than a few scribbles here and there since she didn't know what his Semblance was and could offer little more than far-flung ideas. It was still a sore point for the blonde, not able to perform his best on the field.

It was two points against her attraction to him, and she was seriously questioning how desperate she had been for liking him to begin with. His caustic attitude had done nothing to help forge bonds with RWBY, nor was it helping in making them a better team, a sharp divide between the two sides whenever the topic was brought up.

He felt he was justified in his feelings and actions, citing his own relationships with his sisters, and Nora was right there with him, falling back onto long ingrained societal standards regarding the issue. She and Ren stood against them, though not exactly on the same plane. While he believed there was nothing wrong with the way RWBY was conducting relationships between themselves, she fell more along the lines of indifference.

If their relationships weren't hurting anyone and were consensual, then they were perfectly fine in her eyes, despite her own misgivings about the volatile topic. Nothing they had said or argued made either of them give an inch, so stubborn in their ideas they refused to listen to any argument, despite the logical side remaining firmly on their side.

Their own teamwork growth had ground to a halt as the divide between them forced her and Ren to partner up for classwork and training. She could tell the rift was hurting both Ren and Nora, but both were stubborn in their own way, Ren probably expecting an apology for Nora's careless actions and behavior, and Nora waiting for him to run back to her arms with a change of heart.

Even the teachers had noticed, Professor Goodwitch pulling them aside after a teamwork exercise to ask what exactly was plaguing them from performing to the same standard they had grown into several weeks ago.

Finally stepping into his role of leader, Jaune had declared it an internal matter to be discussed and fixed within the team. Goodwitch had only narrowed her eyes and given them a week to fixed this issue, thankfully not pushing for more information on what the problem was. His burst of confidence was yet another point against him because when he'd finally grown a pair to act of a leader, he'd summarily rebuked any help from their commanding Hunter.

Even now she had to deal with Jaune taking too long in the bathroom because he'd forgotten to shave and absolutely had to be clean-shaven to get rid of the small amount of growth he got overnight.

Reaching into her leg pouch to reread the passage of Ruby's notebook about her Semblance, Miló offered little to soothe her irritation at the dysfunctionality of her team. Individually, she had never been stronger, not even during her dueling circuit back in Mistral, and all of her teammates had grown similarly, vastly eclipsing their former selves.

But their power and skill curves had leveled out since RWBY had stopped training with them. The presence and tutelage of a vastly more experienced team showed enormous dividends. Where they had gained this experience was a mystery, as nothing within their profiles, at least their public ones, revealed anything about their pasts, leaving her to question exactly what type of experience they had to be sealed away from even other Hunters.

They were undoubtedly skilled, showcased by how the four of them fought together and held an implicit trust in their partners. Communicating with each other with quick hand signals, they used their more developed teamwork to utterly demolish them in spars, and when thrown into individual spars, they'd each handily demolished their partner within the span of seconds. She'd handily give the four of them A-ranked classifications each, and was beyond thankful they let them train with them.

She long ago realized Beacon wasn't a school for them but more of a launching platform for their careers as a future commanding or frontline squad. It had nothing left to teach them in terms of combat ability, and could only help refine their techniques and instill knowledge on different types of Grimm or how the Hunters were structured and operated.

They weren't here to learn, but to teach, and JNPR had almost exclusive access to them during their morning workout and classroom time, having been assigned as their sister team.

And Jaune and Nora had thrown this golden opportunity away, letting their blind misunderstanding and hatred interfere with getting to learn under them. They didn't yet understand that not every person they'd work with held the same ideals or the same views on society and their values.

RWBY's room remained silent as they moved into the hallway, Ren leading her along as they followed the other two members of their team.

Actually, it was beyond quiet.

Too quiet.

They had woken far too late to do a morning practice and Jaune had decided to forgo it, instead choosing to take an extended breakfast before their first period. Several other teams should've been already milling about as they too moved to the canteen or went to their classes early, but the dorms were desolate, creepy enough for even her dense leader to notice.

"Did we miss a morning meeting?" Jaune instinctively looked to her for information, not the most in tune to the regular morning updates the school sent out to inform them of pertinent changes or events happening on campus. Having not received any, she only shook her head no as they made their way out into the main area and were forced to stop.

Hundred upon hundreds of Hunters stood in rank and file around the center of the courtyard, all grim-faced and at attention. All types of Hunters, be it first years to grizzled veterans, most of which she'd never seen before, intermingled together, their rank unimportant as they gave their full attention to the three flags they surrounded.

She didn't know if Jaune grasped the significance of having all three flags lowered, but Ren and Nora sure as hell did if their wide eyes indicated anything. Nora kicked Jaune into gear, quite literally, and dragged him to the end of the closest row and manhandled him into attention.

He wasn't anywhere dense to ignore the atmosphere around him, thankfully, and kept his silence. She was tall enough to see over the heads of all the standing Hunters, and all the way in front, standing at the base of the flags and Memorial Stone was their Headmaster, his Deputy, and Beacon's spymaster.

Which only made the lowered three flags more confusing as the only reason for their possible lowering was standing solemnly at their feet.

Before she knew it, the CCTS tower clock chimed announcing the eighth hour, crushing the background noise of the gathered Hunters into still silence. No one dared breath, let along move as the last bull struck and everyone waited for their Headmaster to speak.

"For over thirty years I've governed and administered Beacon as both its Headmaster and Commander, teaching and guiding successful iteration upon iteration of Hunters. It was only when I looked in the mirror and noticed my white hair that I realized that I wouldn't always be here, and began looking for a successor." He got a few chuckles from the crowd from those aware he'd always been cursed with his silver hair and he waited for them to quiet down again.

She wasn't entirely sure why he was interjecting humor into what was supposed to be a somber affair, but he not one said their Headmaster wasn't eccentric. It was a surprise to learn how long the man had presided over them, with only his hair to denote his age, still looking relatively young.

"Eight months ago, I accepted a student to this Academy, one who'd been training for over four years already to take up my mantle, and for those eight months she had beyond proven she was capable and ready for her role, despite her young age of sixteen." He looked back to the Stone, eyes tracing out a name near the top, one she couldn't make out from her distance. He let his words sink in, letting his Hunters digest the age of their Commander. "Those at this school have most likely seen her around the campus, attended class with her, or maybe even made friends with her, unknowingly interacting with your next Commander."

This was hurting him, his hand clenching tightly onto his cane and his brown eyes hardening into a rich deep soil. The two subordinates to his side were right there with him, standing stoically, but far too stiffly to be natural.

"I had planned on making her appointment official during the Vytal Festival, for her to take over my post of Commander of Beacon while I remained your Headmaster, splitting up the duties needed to manage the Hunters for efficiency and diversity, to bring in a new perspective and youth we needed."

"Her name had been Ruby Rose, and it's my regret to inform you she was killed this morning." Her breath caught in her throat, eyes immediately snapping to the man by Ozpin's side, a man she had learned was Ruby's father only recently. HIs eyes were bleary red, having spent the night commiserating over his loss.

The murmur of the assembled was drowned out as her mind processed the Headmaster's words, struggling to fit the image of the Ruby she knew to a Commander of Beacon. Terrifyingly strong on the field with a cunning to match, the girl just didn't seem to fit the profile. Cold, calculating, unemotional and unyielding weren't the characteristics of a team leader, let alone a Commander, but she'd apparently already proven herself in Ozpin's eyes, training for four years before running through an eight month trial period.

It certainly explained her experience.

And yet none of it mattered because she'd lost a friend. Surprisingly, there was no outrage at Ozpin's declaration, not from her or from the assembly, only stunned silence and piercing grief. All of them had lost a Commander of Ozpin's choosing, and his recommendation meant the world to them, having been with them for the longest and establishing a relationship of trust.

She just couldn't believe she was just gone.

She had continued to be her friend after the rift and had seen her two days ago during their class, having noted her absence yesterday. She'd been a mentor to her and her team, taking time out for helping Ozpin manage the Hunters and direct resources to help them, a first-year team with no business interacting with such a high ranked Hunter.

"Though she was never officially appointed, it'd be remiss to leave her name off the Stone in its rightful spot. Many of you will question my decision to appoint a sixteen-year-old to my station, but she has time and time again proven herself, and many of you will never know of the missions she took for your betterment, with the last costing her life."

He turned back to the Stone and knelt by it, tracing her name with his thumb before he thudded his cane against the ground and wiped away the growing commotion behind him.

"Her Hunt has ended!" A blast of wind roared across the courtyard at his declaration, picking up the flags and waving them around. The superstitious part of her wanted to believe Ruby was watching over them, still fulfilling her role even in death.

"But her memory lives on." She chose to make her own ending, the thundering of the assembly following the traditional rite drowning out her personal one. Ren let her know he had heard it, briefly touching her hand and sending her a smile, though the ends didn't reach his eyes.

"Those who knew her shouldn't mourn her death, but cherish who she was when alive." She swore the Headmaster's twinkling brown eyes stared right at her, not particularly caring brown shouldn't twinkle in the first place.

She didn't want to remember though.

She wanted to go through the five stages of grief, if only to slap sense into Jaune for pushing Ruby away, ruining the last memories she had with her. She didn't want to even believe she was gone, wanting to believe this was a cruel joke, but Ozpin had weight to his words, as did the three flags waving listlessly.

Jaune and Nora suddenly looked incredibly guilty, stricken, and ashamed, the weight of their actions settling on their shoulders and crushing their spirits. She wasn't petty enough to blame them for spoiling the good memories, but could freely blame them for separating them.

With a single order from the Headmaster, the masses dispersed, each team either moving to the Stone to pay their respects and then moving on to prevent a backlog or moving away to continue on their day, set to return at a better time.

"Team JNPR." Caught in the midst of the moving blob on Hunters, they could do nothing but endure, a break finally revealing the visage of their Headmaster, his entourage missing.

"Headmaster." She greeted him first when Jaune didn't, obviously still stuck in a downward spiral of hate and anger.

"I know this may come as a shock, but you have no condolences for the loss of your friend." She could only smile and nod, thanking him for his kind words. "Due to the unfortunate circumstances, the remainder of Team RWBY has been removed from active duty, leaving JNPR without a sister team."

Not at all a shocking turn of events considering the relationships the four of them held with each other.

"Can we talk to them?" The question was out of her mouth before her brain could catch up, interrupting any question Jaune was going to ask. She was still their friend, and she needed to know if they were okay, or at least still functioning after Ruby's death. No doubt it hit them immensely harder than it hit them.

"Team RWBY has dropped off the radar for their own peace of mind, leaving only a line of communication open with me. I won't betray what little trust they have in me left, but I'll pass on your request." She hesitantly nodded, filing the piece of information that RWBY didn't trust their Headmaster entirely away. Something must've happened to erode that trust, because Ozpin seemed to have trusted Ruby entirely, to the point of trusting her with his Hunters.

"Was everything you said about Ruby true?" She wanted to smack Jaune for his inappropriate question, wondering whether he realized the large mistake he'd made by insulting Ozpin's announcement and eulogy.

Maybe her mindset against him was vindictive for his behavior over the last week, or maybe it was paranoia the Headmaster knew far more than he let on. That disarming twinkle and kind smile so often thought to be fatherly hid thirty successful years of the secrets of Beacon. Many Hunters never understood how difficult the position was for how little reward, having to constantly deal with many elements outside their original purvey of Grimm.

Much of their recorded history had nothing to fighting Grimm, funnily enough. Though they still fought them, concentrations of Grimm were more prominent around human-based conflicts, most recently being the Faunus Rights Revolution. While the public schooling system taught only the human side, Beacon included the devastating side-effect of Grimm hordes besieging their walls.

Further yet, there were moments the public knew nothing about, missions and events only recorded in their history, hordes wiped out before they made blips on the maps, teams lost with only the Stone as a final resting place.

And finally, she had to rationalize, was the secret history of the Commanders, people so wrapped in shadows they barely existed outside of their name. If Ruby had, for eight months, been her Commander, and walked around and acted with her sister team none the wiser, then it was reasonable to assume there were secrets unavailable even to them.

It made Ruby only more frightening, her demeanor a byproduct of her many years training and acting in her role.

"Commander Ruby was indeed slated to replace me in a few months before she passed, as much as it may be hard to believe of someone so young." He looked his age for the first time she saw him, the years of his tireless work revealed on his face. Enigmatic still in only revealing she was, but revealing nothing more. "Within her last wishes she asked me to finish the assignment she gave you, something about a notebook."

She nodded and handed over the notebook from her leg pouch, almost reluctant to part with the handwritten work.

"It's almost a shame Mister Arc and Miss Valkyrie severed their ties with her before she died," Ozpin remarked while perusing the contents of the journal with reverence, emotions indescribable as he read over her theories. "And over such a silly difference as to who she fell in love with."

This suddenly got very awkward very fast, and she wasn't sure how to handle him knowing the reasoning behind the break between the two teams. The disappointment in his face made even her feel guilty, knowing she could've done more to be a friend to Ruby and her team. It wasn't even the one relationship that broke them apart, but their childish reactions to it.

"I'll have the notebook returned within the week, with my annotations to Commander Ruby's notes and any further theories I can concoct. It's the least I can do for her." He left them with some final words as he turned towards his office tower. "No professor will hold it against you if you need to take a personal day in light of the revelations and your loss."

They were alone after he left, not entirely sure how to proceed with their day. Learning Ruby had not only died but had died as their future Commander was a shock not easily shrugged off. Especially not for Jaune or Nora, not when they couldn't track down RWBY and apologize for their selfish behavior.

At least now they understood the weight of their actions when it was far too late to apologize for them.

She heard the rest of teammates follow her as she moved, unsure of what to do or what to say to make the pain in their hearts go away. She wasn't even sure what to do, but she knew she'd take the day to recuperate and make sure the training she got from Ruby wasn't forgotten.

Miló was already in her hand before she exited the tunnel into one of the training arenas, her Semblance picking up Akoúo̱'s presence on her back and the weapons of her teammates. Further dumping Aura into her Semblance, she could sense bullet casings strewn across the ground from earlier teams, but the elusive microscopic metal within her own blood wasn't showing up in her extrasensory field.

She would figure out how to make Ruby's theory work and follow in her footsteps, not only to make herself stronger but to make her proud. It was only just hitting her how far ahead Ruby had been in terms of skill compared to her, to be talked about in the same circle as Ozpin and Ironwood, unobtainable and awe-inspiring.

Ren was already in place across from her, similar thoughts echoing in his head as he smiled at her wryly. Much like him, she'd take Ozpin's words to heart and celebrate who and what Ruby was rather than devolve in a sappy mess. She could cry and break down when she saw the rest of RWBY, but right now she had a Commander to prove right.

* * *

 _In Memoriam Ruby Rose_

 _22/03/82_

* * *

 **AN:** Sorry this took a while to get out but I've been swamped with work. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and leave a review with criticism of what I did well, or how I can improve my writing as it means the world to me. It was a very sobering chapter to write and it took a while to figure out how to write it.


	25. Mortals

Chapter Twenty-Five

* * *

 **Mortals**

* * *

This paperwork was going to kill his immortal self by drowning, and if Ruby wasn't already dead then he would seriously be considering sending her on a permanent assignment to the coldest region of Atlas.

He'd given Ruby reign of Beacon for less than six months, and within that time span she'd generated more bureaucratic nonsense than he'd seen in his three decades. He'd been limited himself only to the administration of Beacon as a school and not the umbrella term for all of Vale's Hunters, during her term and was now blindsided.

Ruby had completely ignored that problem and not bothered to even submit a proposal to apply a catch-all name for her Hunter's to replace the tradition of referring to them by their main Academy. When he'd sent her a note asking her to think of an idea, she'd brusquely replied for him to lock himself in his cocoa cave and to stop bothering her while she did real work.

He'd had a storm cloud hovering above his head for a while after that, much to the consternation of Glynda who'd thrown at mop and bucket at him after he'd tracked his dour mood across the campus.

He crumpled his discretionary budget sheet and threw it at his slumbering spymaster, the man taking up one of his couches and biding his time until the rest of his team got there, dried tear tracks marring his cheeks. He barely reacted to the object, catching it and crumpling it further, if only to avoid speaking to him.

Qrow hadn't said a single word to him since he'd all but demanded he return to Beacon, not telling him anything, not even after he arrived to meet him in front of the flags before daybreak. It hadn't taken him long to locate Ruby's name on the Stone to confirm the nightmare of the three lowered flags.

On his own desk, and across several of the paper's Ruby had left, his own teardrops could be seen whenever he'd gotten too caught up in trying to decipher the many files to wipe them away. So much work, so much accomplished, and yet much more planned, with only this paperwork to prove anything.

"Raven and Taiyang were spotted entering the campus." Glynda's voice suddenly sounded out from the intercom, his hand absentmindedly answering the blinking light, his mind needing some sort of reprieve from the cycle of dark thoughts.

Qrow finally moved from his couch and stood behind him, handing over the crumpled sheet. He looked over his shoulder to the hundreds of different orders and mission reports that made up Ruby's professional life, silently tallying which ones he'd been aware of and which had slipped through his radar.

They'd slipped even through his own radar, and he was supposed to have been Ruby's direct subordinate.

His elevator chimed open a few minutes later, letting in two people he hadn't seen in over a decade. Raven looked as young as ever, a new scar on her chin the only evidence she'd changed, but Tai looked to have seen better days, dark shadows under his eyes, a tiredness evident in his demeanor.

Qrow was moving before he realized he was being attacked, Harbinger snapping open into its sword form to deflect an angry Tai from punching him out the window, throwing him aside with as much struggle as a parent chastising a child. His encounter with Ruby during Mountain Glenn had made him re-evaluate his complacency towards his training, the smell of fresh weapon grease reaching his nose.

Tai crumpled against the same wall Ruby had thrown him into so long ago, adding yet more cracks to the marble. Raven winced as her former lover got slammed hard enough to force the anger from his eyes, bleeding them back to lilac. Qrow only tutted at his former teammate's rash actions, taking a long sip from his trusty flask.

"Sloppy." Tai moaned shortly before shifting his dislocated shoulder back into place, clenching his teeth as his Aura surged forth and chased away the pain. He reached up to Qrow's hand and was pulled back to his feet, getting a slap to the back of the head for causing trouble.

He couldn't fault him, knowing his attempted assault was tame compared to the ruin the future Signal Headmaster could reign down on him as one of the people in charge of Vale's greatest secondary Academy.

He tightened his grip on his cane as Qrow met Raven, the two twins facing off in his office, both with known potential to hit first and ask questions later. Raven had been the primary reason he'd recruited Qrow as his spymaster after Summer's death, her abandonment of Yang and her team throwing him into an alcoholic stupor only broken by guilt and renewed purpose.

It'd been one of the many times he'd had to manipulate events into his favor, not willing to throw such potential out the door, already having lost one Branwen to a misguided quest to learn about her birth home and reclaim her right to lead. He'd essentially guilted Qrow to working for him, using Summer's death and her daughter as primary motivators.

From him, he received almost exclusive and in-depth knowledge of how and where to deploy extra units, where political strife was rampant, as well as information on how the Hunter's perceived his leadership and decisions, an especially crucial function with Ruby's death and revelation as his successor.

"Bitch." He choked on his spittle, unable to see the smiles gracing the Branwen twin's faces, Qrow's Aura an ever moving miasma of dark and Raven's an ever teleporting mess of purple, chunks of it moving in and out of reality only to appear somewhere else in her core.

Curious how Auras evolved from that first instance he'd encountered them in this new world, not entirely sentient but entirely malleable even within blood relatives. He'd tried to map and learn how they changed, looking at the extra chromosome this new set of humans had been granted, but it resisted classification. The new pair acted more akin to a highly volatile virus across parent and child but eventually stabilized at birth.

But there was also the question of why certain Semblances remained locked within certain bloodlines, such as the Schnees, or the latent passive ability of his own Silvereyes. They seemingly resisted any outside incoming genetic change, marking them as dominant traits among other Semblances.

But that Punnett square was conveniently tossed out the window and then shredded by an angry and PMS'ing Salem because it certainly didn't explain why two people, namely Neo and Ruby, could have almost identical Auras, but vastly different Semblances. It not only meant Auras and Semblances were independent from one another in one case, but also entirely dependent on each other.

Most evidence supported Semblances were tied to Auras, the latter affecting and determining the former, but certain edge cases refused to finally prove the rule, and it entirely annoyed him he couldn't pin down Semblance creation, or why some of them were innately overpowered compared to others.

"Asshole." Where was he again, and why were Qrow and Raven not at each other's throats? Even Tai was quietly moving to crouch behind his desk, just waiting for the inevitable explosion between the two siblings, memories of the last time they were together playing in his mind.

He completely missed Tai reaching for his chair and upending him onto the floor, too lost in the mystery of the Branwens to realize where he had moved to or what he'd tried to the moment he saw him just second ago. The clatter of metal and the impact of his body on the floor pulled the attention of the Branwens away from each other.

"Came back finally?" Raven hummed and shrugged off Qrow's question, walking over to his desk to peruse the many documents laid out, ignoring his sputters as his brain struggled to reboot and comprehend the indignity he'd suffered. Few could say they'd done anything as humiliating to him, Tai now able to count himself among those few.

"That's for getting my daughter killed." He looked out through a squinted eye at Signal's deputy, nodding his head and accepting his punishment, closing his eyes and enjoying the cold floor at the moment until a sharp kick ruined it. "And that's for not telling me she was Beacon's next Commander."

He could suffer this until Tai got his answers. It was the least the man deserved.

"I didn't believe her when she ordered me back, but she did promise me a pardon if I returned and reactivated STRQ." She moved another set of papers aside, viewing many secrets she probably shouldn't have. Qrow and Tai snapped their necks around to stare at her, Qrow taking a long sip to hide his surprise. "And look at this, an already signed copy, ready for my signature."

"Don't make me rescind it." Oz hissed, picking himself up and righting his chair. He snatched back the pardon and set it aside on the tiny pile of papers he'd already sorted through. "I still don't yet entirely know why she went to Vacuo, or what she accomplishing seeing as Yang was too traumatized to do anything more than give back her emblem and hand over her Will, so consider yourself on probation."

"I'm your only S-rank, you can't afford to put me on probation." She snagged a pen from him and deftly signed her name before he could stop her, getting a pout from him when she was done.

He grabbed his pen back before she could damage any of the rest of the paperwork.

"Well, technically, because you went away without leave, your rank degraded down to A-rank." Raven bit back her retort, wanting to tell him where exactly he could stick his A-rank, regretting already signing the pardon and being forced to play nice with his infuriating personality. "The only S-ranks I have are currently suspended because their leader died, and aren't set to return until the Vytal Tournament."

Raven and Tai remained silent while Qrow stroked his beard in contemplation.

"I knew Ruby was up there, but all of them is a stretch." He winced as the wounds and pain of his encounter with her during Glenn acted up, utterly outclassed against not only her terrifying speed but entirely useless against her battlefield presence. "Though, she wouldn't have expected any less from them."

"Ruby was an S-rank?" Tai asked, getting a nod from both Ozpin and Qrow. That was probably the larger shock than learning she was his next Commander. "Blake, Weiss, and Yang are ALL S-ranked?"

"One of the many requirements for even being considered for the position is achieving S-rank, and until Raven here returned I didn't really have a choice but to consider her as a viable candidate, and for the last six months she was essentially in charge without being appointed."

"I can see she left you more than enough paperwork to deal with." Qrow pointed out.

"Yes, and because she so conveniently died, I can't send her on any mundane patrols for leaving me to deal with all of this." If Qrow was anyone else, he would happily retire having seen the infallible Ozpin pout at his predicament.

"Hold up, Stop. Wait a minute." Tai grabbed all of their attention. "You're telling me that Ruby, my Ruby, our Ruby, was our S-ranked Commander?"

"She was terrifyingly good at it too." Ozpin rested his face against the palm of his hand, pulling down his features to rub away the tiredness. "She had the entire next decade of Beacon planned out, all the way from our next expansion to the balanced budget sheets!"

His exasperation boiled over, a few of these balance sheets getting thrown out to his audience. Qrow unraveled the sheet of paper thrown at him earlier, glancing over the millions of Lien Ruby so casually seemed to manipulate and move, stopping his inspection on a particular account labeled as 'miscellaneous'.

He knew exactly why Oz was essentially throwing a tantrum, smirking at the exactly zero amount of funds allocated to it.

"She took away your hot chocolate." He crumbled up the sheet again and threw it right back, smiling satisfactorily as it bounced off his head. Oz straightened it out and placed it among the other similar sheets, resolving to look over it later.

"Now I only have the few tonnes of it left in my hanger because I don't dare mess with an excess budget for the first time in over a decade." The amount he had stored away was only slightly surprising. "Especially because she somehow balanced out funding and running Beacon at only slightly less than full performance."

"Wasn't supposed to be condemned several decades ago?" Raven chirped in, vastly interested in this new development, almost eager to learn of how Ruby had done the impossible freed the district from the harrowing nightmare of Grimm. "The place was supposed to be overrun and deigned hostile."

"It was, until about two weeks ago when I was assigned to shadow the team and they proceeded to rip through the district with absolute ease," Qrow interjected, knowing more than he could report and put down on paper. "It was the day I truly understood what Ruby had become, and how much stronger than me she was."

"What do you mean 'become'?" Raven wisely remained silent to Tai's question, having no doubt already interacted with the monster in the guise of Ruby and already thankful Tai hadn't seen fit the yell at her just yet for leaving those many years ago. Ruby was his priority and she took the forefront to his personal issues.

"I wasn't told where we were going until the bullhead landed and was ordered to remain silent, because this manipulating ass wanted me to see rather than simply be told, to learn what Ruby had 'become'." He spat the word out, crimson eyes glazing over with bloodlust. "What I hadn't been told was the district had already been cleared of Grimm and was instead occupied by an expeditionary force from the White Fang meant to use the tunnels to ferry Grimm into the inner districts to cause strife and gain influence."

"But you said -"

"Team RWBY slaughtered all but their leader, a man Blake later interrogated to get information of what his team was doing there and what else was planned in the area and then was summarily executed to prevent a loose end." Qrow cut Tai off with a sharp movement of his hand to let him continue speaking. "When I tried to order them to stop, Ruby ordered her team to continue without her and chose to engage me in combat where I was humiliatingly defeated."

"Good for the kid. Finally growing up and making her mark on the world." Okay, so maybe Raven wasn't the best person to have nearby when trying to convey the magnitude of her actions, so stuck in her pragmatic maternalism to understand, or maybe it was the failed psychological assessment talking. "Completely not anything like you described her to me though."

That part was interesting, Ozpin not knowing Qrow and Raven had remained in contact at all after their initial separation.

"No… no… that's… not Ruby." Tai collapsed limply against the Headmaster's desk, the life driven from his chest, replaced with a growing sense of horror and fear, his image of his daughter, Summer's daughter, shattered. "Ruby was nice and kind, bubbly and honest, friendly. She wasn't this monster you make her out to be. You have the wrong person."

"The Ruby we knew never existed. She was a mask she created to fit in with people." Qrow got a subtle nod and took out his scroll, quickly navigating to Ruby's profile via convenient shortcut, a bright glaring KIA banner reminding him she was gone. "Much like Raven here, she failed her psych exam."

Tai took the offered scroll and was first assaulted by the three profile pictures of Ruby, each one showing her slightly differently. The one from most recent memories was of her wearing her mirrored sunglasses, but the next two brought him up short. The second had her wearing a blindfold, and the third one had her eyes visible, a pair of soulless black voids where he knew Summer's silver eyes should've been.

Her official name had him swallowing thickly, the dual names of Belladonna and Branwen sending his thoughts spiraling. Everything important about her profile was wrong. She was sixteen, not twenty. She had silver eyes, not these black marbles. She was definitely not responsible for over fifteen classified S-ranked missions and was certainly not an alternatively sane psychopath as some psychologist from Monty claimed.

Before he could protest this wasn't his Ruby, a very important tag dragged his eyes away, labeling her as a time traveler from four years of their future. A quick look across her teammate's profiles also revealed they had similar tags associated with them, their ages, names, and psych assessments changing to suit them.

"That's so cool." Raven had at some point snuck behind him to gaze across his shoulder at the jaw-dropping documents in his hands. "Though that certainly explains why Yang didn't immediately try to kill me when she saw me, but damn can she punch." She traced the scar on her chin fondly. "She gets that from you by the way."

She got promptly slugged and sent into the same cracked wall he'd recently vacated. Ozpin only massaged the twitch from his forehead away, resolving to never have that part of the wall fixed as it only seemed to attract attention.

"Fairly sure she got that from both of you." A large sweatdrop made its way down Qrow's face as Tai turned to glare at him.

"Alright, I'll bite. Ruby wasn't the Ruby I knew, and I sure as hell don't want to know why she becomes a psychopath in our future, but tell me this." Both Qrow and Ozpin tried hard to keep the surprise from their faces at his quick acceptance. "Something or someone got through four S-ranks and managed to kill - " He stopped as his heart missed a beat, a dull emptiness settling deep into his chest. "- to kill one of them, and neither of you seems concerned."

Ozpin realized that matter only now, knowing it would do nothing to suppress Tai and Raven's curiosity. The remainder of RWBY had sent Tai here for a reason, Ruby sending Raven here for the same, to have him explain everything as petty revenge for siccing Qrow on them earlier during the Glenn expedition.

"I assume you found the hidden files then, Qrow." He swiped open the log file, grimacing at the timestamp denoting Qrow's last viewing of it. He'd kept his silence about it, for whatever reason, as much as it may have killed his heart to know Ruby had, in all terms, signed her own death warrant.

"My Commander's orders were her own, but I never expected her to activate it, or for her team to go through with it," Qrow grunted out, drinking the last of his alcohol for some measure of stability, the implications behind Ruby's last order hitting far worse than her death.

Ozpin brought up the order and stared at it for a while, Ruby's signature scrawled messily at the bottom, her teammates co-signing to mark their acceptance.

"Unlike Raven here, who only failed her psych assessment due to her rough childhood, Ruby failed so spectacularly she was deemed incapable of serving and a threat to not only herself but anyone she worked with." Ruby's initial report from Monty quickly found its way onto the holographic projector for Tai and Raven's viewing pleasure. "Her teammates only barely passed and received warnings for careful monitoring, mostly due to their unwavering loyalty to her and questionable morals."

Tai and Raven, already made aware of Team RWBY's actions silently revised their opinions of the team, marking them more as active combatants in a war rather than Hunters. Only the latter had ever fought within one, knowing how much of a toil the devastating nightmare could have on a mind.

"Almost immediately upon her acceptance, Ruby made me aware of who and what she once was, along with the consequences of her timeline, one of which was a psychopathic alter ego so ingrained in her psyche it was hard to tell the difference between the two."

"And yet she could so easily switch between the two as if changing clothes, Ruby taking the role as the Hunter in charge of administering the Hunters as a whole and leading, while her alter took charge of field assignments," Qrow added, keeping the name of the alter ego quiet more for Tai's sake than anything.

"But she was also acutely aware of the danger the alter ego could pose if she ever lost control over the shred of sanity she operated on, a danger she'd faced twice in her past, both times slaughtering hundreds without remorse until her team could calm her down or knock her out." Ozpin had long ago perused the records Ruby had granted him to gain a better perspective on how she had developed and the reasoning behind many of her actions.

Her utter pragmatism behind many of her orders was in stark contrast to his own policy of non-interference. She wasn't afraid to challenge the establishment or the status quo to impose her ideology, and definitely had the sheer ability to ensure she succeeded.

"In order to ensure she could never harm an innocent, Ruby created a last effort order in case she ever lost control, which was then verified and agreed upon by Weiss, Blake, and Yang." Prune made its way to the display now, the primary images of the four members of RWBY appearing at the top with a mission classification of SS across the top. "In the event she lost control, they'd be under orders to contain her, but…"

He scrolled down to the secondary and final part of the order, a ball of disbelief coalescing to join the horror from earlier. "... in the event the three of them determined she was too far gone to return to sanity or posed a large enough threat they couldn't contain, they then had the authority to kill her."

Silence reigned supreme in the office as Tai slumped limply onto the floor, not able to believe Yang could go through with such an order. She'd been terrified of him when she saw him earlier, not because she had to deliver the news, but the horrifying circumstances behind it.

"No, Yang wouldn't do that. She was supposed to protect her." Emotions stampeded down the rational words of his Headmaster, pushing away the changes to his two daughters and leaving him wanting their pre-Beacon selves back. "Where did they go? I want to talk to them."

"Even if I knew where they disappeared to, I wouldn't dare tell you to protect what little peace they'll get with each other. Besides, the three months we have until the Vytal Tournament will give us enough time to figure out how to deal with many of Ruby's orders, and there's enough to completely overwhelm Qrow's network."

The aforementioned spymaster repeatedly banged his head against the nearest wall at the mention of more work, already vaguely aware of the sort of orders Ruby gravitated to.

"Then what? You're going to let three of your Hunters get away with legal murder?" Righteous anger replaced his grief almost instantaneously, upset Yang had the audacity to even agree to such an order, let alone go through with it.

"Get away with it? They did nothing wrong as Ruby asked to die, and between them, they hold enough power to ignore any summons or punishment." Ozpin's replied, almost scripted, the reminder of certain files locked away sending goosebumps across his skin.

"Gonna roll over as usual then, just like when Raven left and you couldn't stop her!" Qrow's lips twisted into a grimace, Raven shrugging nonchalantly at her treasonous actions more than a decade ago.

Tai flinched away as Ozpin stood and slammed his hands onto the desk, anger roiling across her appearance, eyes flashing a brilliant silver, characteristic twinkle missing.

"Team RWBY isn't a team of Hunters, not with what they've accomplished so far, and especially not since the war they participated in the future. I couldn't go after Raven because I had no other S-rank to bring her in, and at the height of their power, Team RWBY annihilated the entirety of Vacuo from the map!" He sat back down, slumping as the anger faded. "You want to go punish your daughter and her team, then go, I won't stop you, but if you want answers, then shut the fuck up and wait for their return."

Raven looked suitably both impressed and terrified at the prospect of four people able to destroy a several million kilometer squared country, and not die from the Aura overload of channeling enough to do so.

"Who're we fighting?" The classic Branwen bloodlust glowed in Raven's eyes, memories of the Faunus Rights Revolution playing through her mind, the sounds of squishy flesh getting rent apart and the smell of decay ripe. So much pointless death to prove a small and simple point Faunus and Humans were equal, an easy point because they could reproduce with one another.

Many times in his traumatic past did humans try to bring in their own version of racist or speciesist policies, and each time they'd been rebuffed, both peacefully and violently. This next era of revolution was coming frighteningly fast and would be decided during the Vytal festivities, and would decide whether all of Ruby's work went to waste, or whether his sister began her reign of terror.

"In three months the White Fang will assault the Amity Colosseum and provoke a war between Atlas and Vale from their hijacking of their droid personnel." He predicted the snort from Qrow, continuing despite him wanted to get a word in. "Blake has already created an isolated server on the CCTS for their droid virus to infect, but will still transmit as if operational, leaving the attack crippled."

"The Fang's already crippled," Raven added, getting three quizzical looks in response. "Ruby negotiated a deal with Sienna Khan while in Vacuo for her guaranteed neutrality, support in denouncing Adam's Fang, and return to Menagerie in return for Beacon's support in passing the Faunus Equal Rights Bill."

"Ruby should've known Beacon has no control or influence within the Council." Tai pointed out as Ozpin quickly wrote down the events of Vacuo, finding it to fit too perfectly within Ruby's plans to be a coincidence.

"Legally, Beacon has no voice, true, but the representatives are subject to the will of the people. Yang has used both Qrow and Blake's network of informants to spread positive propaganda for Faunus rights with a predicted eight seats set to change during the pre-Vytal elections, and Blake has already executed three other Councilmembers for crimes ranging between hoarding child pornography and selling military secrets to the Fang. Idle, the team, has been not."

"Eleven seat changes aren't enough to pass the Bill, but Blake has enough blackmail to force both the Head Councilmember and three others to vote for it. With Beacon's CCTS tower, we control when the information about the resolution is released, so we wait for Adam to attack and time it to appear during their assault to demoralize them and eliminate the threat once and for all."

Raven narrowed her eyes, slightly pissed off her plans for a grand battle would be cut short.

"The Bill comes as a two-fold attack against the old regime as not only will it solidify Faunus rights within Vale, but the activation of Menagerie's CCTS tower will only be seen to support it, driving the remnants of the Fang away from their fanaticism and back to peace."

"Oh come on!" Raven whined childishly. "Ruby promised me a war, and I come all this way to find out she's completely cucked any and all possible wide-scale conflict." Ozpin stared at her unblinkingly, letting her know his feelings on her wanton sadism. Qrow smacked her on the back of her head for good measure. "Where did they get the money for a fucking Tower?"

"The SDC has been under the direct control of Weiss after Jacques Schnee's untimely death After she bought out the Board of Trustees, she freed all of the 'indentured servants' working in her mines and moved them to Menagerie over the course of the last few months. She's done wonders for building trust between the two entities, and has likely bankrupted her own company in this endeavor."

"Oh good, I almost thought I was going to be useless here, but apparently I can just take my vacation now. I don't even know why I came back as it seems everything's under fucking control." The lone female ranted, storming off towards the elevator and smashing the request button.

Tai snagged her hand as she moved into the elevator, stopping her completely. Her hair shaded over her eyes, leaving her blind to her emotions, but her hand tightened around her sword hilt.

"Let go Tai. I'm not in the mood for some emotional spittle to keep me here. Ruby's dead and Yang's gone, and whatever we had together has long burned out." Still refusing to turn around, she was blind to the sudden strength of Tai as he threw her into the same overused cracked wall. Moaning as her Aura activated, she brushed aside her hair to glare at Tai with a tilt to her head. "Now there's the Tai and I know and fell for."

Seriously, was every single problem going to be solved with liberal applications of violence? First, Ruby's entire outlook and so-called 'greater good' only came about because she was willing to use violent and ultimate means to ensure her version of the truth, and now, it looked like STRQ was getting back together because of similar violent means.

What was wrong with sitting down and talking?

The sounds of bureaucracy echoed in his ears, or rather the lack of work getting done did. So often did democracy fail because some twat decided to tie up its critical functions behind red tape to exploit the working class, get away with not paying his taxes, or avoid court sentencing. If anything, Ruby was proving money was useless and only might made right, and she could get away with it because that was the sad truth about the human race.

Their respect for power, to gravitate towards the strongest, would never leave them. Their primary need to assert control, whether positive or negative, came from their pride that they were right and better than others, and not even Ruby could escape it. She thought she was right and wanted to change the world.

Once Ruby and her team were gone, whether from old age or accident, the same forces they crushed would return and rise up to oppress another group of people until another powerful force rose up to challenge them, starting the same cycle again and again.

It was an intensely sobering thought, knowing they were doomed to repeat this cursed cycle almost permanently, but as he watched Tai pick up Raven and smile sadly at Qrow, he couldn't help but think whatever peace they could achieve was worth it, no matter how long it lasted or why it came about.

That small amount, however often it occurred, was why they existed, to provide some measure of peace to each new generation in hopes they would learn from it. Decades ago the Faunus Rights Revolution rocked the four city-states but gave them those decades back in a tentative peace, and soon more conflict would emerge only to give way to more peace. Lives would be lost and families torn asunder, but maybe, just maybe, they'd get through it.

He smiled as Qrow pulled Tai into a hug, both of them mourning the loss of their daughter. Ruby had done something universally good by bringing Raven back to her team, and even one good deed counted against her growing list of crimes. He'd have to find his ancient copy of the Geneva Convention and start a checklist, but for now, it was time to let his reforged team bond and cry.

* * *

Two days had passed since she saw either Weiss or Yang.

After their arrival at the freshly abandoned Castle Schnee, the now President went and locked herself in her new study, taking the box containing Ruby's Will and refusing to let them talk to her. Yang similarly went to the lowest reaches of the castle and commandeered Serenity's hangar, kicking out any scientist or engineer milling about to take full control and finally complete the project.

The only reason she knew where they even were was because she'd periodically sent out clones to make sure they were still alive and bring some food. They hadn't left their chosen domains for much more than to use the restrooms.

With no one other than Rei to keep her company, she was slowly starting to lose whatever shackles of sanity still remained after Ruby's death. Glowing red eyes were her only companion in a darkened bedroom, sucking all of her grief and anger away until she was nothing but an empty shell left slumped in front of a computer.

She didn't know how to feel about the little Grimm anymore. She had been Ruby's, a gift from a slighted deity to celebrate a pact between her children and her brother's faction to end a gruesome war before it even had the chance to begin. Ruby had made the deal for a reason, crippling herself in the process to protect innocent civilians not even native to her birth dimension. And now they had nothing left except for a creature they had been trained to annihilate with extreme prejudice with malignant eyes their leader had used to see the world again.

Eyes with better night vision than her own Faunus ones. Ones which could see further with better clarity than military binoculars. Which could and would frequently send greenhorn Hunters scattering for the hills. Which could see with both the visible and infrared spectrum and were specifically designed to hunt down humans.

A stupidly expensive vase saw its end against the wall as her anger boiled over. It was childish to react to her wife's death like this. Nothing would bring her back, and rationally, she should move on, clinging to Yang and Weiss as the two pillars of stability she still had. But she wasn't feeling entirely too rational at the moment, not with the Rei there to keep her in control, and especially not with the update she'd just received from Qrow.

She couldn't fault him too aggressively, not with the events of the last few days still rippling through Beacon and the new High Command team. Ruby had left specific instructions and moved into place so many pieces, leaving behind a veritable mountain of condensed notes for Ozpin and Qrow to get through, and if it was taking Weiss longer than two days to sort through it than what hope did the two of them have?

Complacency chased away the feelings of helplessness, the sudden calm sending her head spinning to look over at a yipping Rei, tongue lolling out in near drunken happiness. She was good for keeping hot heads cool, but Blake couldn't shake those glowing eyes so filled with innocence and mirth.

She was feeding on her negative emotions but she was still the little and docile puppy Ruby had first brought with, filled with constant negativity from the three castle inhabitants. Alone, without Rei to absorb the miasma of grief and desperation, she was sure there would've been at least a Grimm nest at the base of the mountain.

Maybe then, at least, it would've broken the other two from their funk and had them see some bright sunlight and breath in some fresh air. Sure she wasn't the pinnacle of health after sitting cloistered in a bedroom and letting her skin glow paler by the hour, but she at least had some contact with the outside world and that had to count for something.

And as much as she wanted to strangle Cinder Fall, she was an enigma not even she and Qrow together could track, disappearing with greater ease than Torchwick did among the underworld. With Junior at the helm of Beacon's criminal informants, he could be traced with some difficulty, but Fall moved through Salem's dimension, making it impossible.

She closed the laptop, vast spreadsheets filled with names, numbers, and geolocations burnt into her retinas. Massaging the images from her eyelids away, she felt Rei curl up against her legs and yip once, licking her a few times to grab her attention. She got a few head scratches for her trouble, rolling onto her back to indulge in some baseless pleasure until it suddenly stopped as her new owner stood and stretched as she walked to the door.

Her teammates deserved more than just a message notifying them the odds of their war had drastically changed. Rei scampered along, nipping at her heels as she padded down the carpeted hallway leading to Weiss' study. More so than usual, the empty corridors emanated a distant cold, the dark stone of the castle sapping any warmth still lingering from her blankets.

Yang's Aura flared up, chasing away the cold and replacing it with a comforting warmth, making her decision to be out and about in a camisole and shorts all the more reasonable. At least Rei wasn't affected by the cold, her impermeable form shrugging off the temperature.

She didn't quite know where Weiss had absconded with the Will and was even more confused with the castle layout than she was before after finding corridors to nowhere, disappearing staircases, and impossible overlapping rooms, but she could trust she'd eventually get there after kneeling down to Rei and asking her to find her white-haired other-mother.

The puppy leapt off in a great chase, periodically stopping to sniff the ground or air and then bounding off wherever her nose dragged her, Blake following dutifully. She stopped when Rei started scratching at a nondescript door, her claws unable to do more than leave shallow trenches streaked around the bottom rail.

She instantly ran in the moment Blake cracked open the door, nipping into the study in a burst of shadows. Blake opened the door further, not entirely sure what to expect after the last clone's visit, but certainly not expecting the office space to be littered with sheets of paper taped to every visible surface, with many more scattered around the floor and coffee table.

And smack in the middle was a slumped over Weiss, hands tangled in her messy and disorganized hair. She looked up at the noise, revealing tear marked cheeks and raw red eyes all centering around dull blue eyes.

She briefly composed herself, wiping her face clear with the back of her hand before speaking. "Leave Blake. I don't want to deal with one of your clones. I'm perfectly able to take care of myself."

A dark ball of fluff shot up to her desk and barked at her, innocent red just begging to be pet. A strangled sob forced itself from Weiss' throat, the little Grimm eliciting far too many memories to be healthy in her current state of mind. Too many times had Rei's natural eyes brokered fevered nightmares about Ruby wearing them, and too often did her mere presence remind them of what they had lost.

Blake looked over a few of the scattered sheets of paper, all of which were either absolutely filled with dense mathematical proofs which flew over her head or crossed out in haphazard scribbles.

"You're the real Blake, aren't you?" Weiss asked in a meek whisper after Blake refused to answer, hands grasping for some stability from Rei, the puppy all too willing to sit and be pampered. The Faunus carefully looked over the few maths she could make out, the few ancient variables she could make out pointing to a physics-based equation.

Another sheet had similar formulas, this time with color-coded variables, each corresponding to the four colors of Team RWBY. Enormous units of energy were highlighted in yellow, similarly large units of velocity and acceleration in red, and an unknown unit in blue. The last one had dozens of angry green arrows with question marks leading to them.

Dozens of more sheets had intricate fractal designs painted on them, each with corresponding stability and energy intake values. All but one had been slashed through with green and tweaked in the next iteration until the last one, a large 'WHY?' replacing the strikethrough. Under this one were their four relative masses denoted in kilograms with even more formulas and proofs scribbled underneath it, all with similar green arrows painted towards the 'WHY?'.

She finally settled on a sheet with a rough sketch depicting their four forms within a very familiar glyph with spiraling streaks of silver Aura trailing off into the positive z-axis. Large balls of red, blue, and yellow channeled Aura into the glyph while a purple Aura stood by. She didn't need to say anything, just hold up the paper accusingly, soft amber eyes filled with understanding.

Weiss refused to meet her gaze, far more interested in the ribbon wrapped around her teammate's throat. A tear threatened to spill over once her chin was moved upwards against her will, a pair of intensely smoldering cauldrons of gold invading her personal space to lock her in place. A chaste kiss shut down her remaining mental functions, her free hand reaching for the back of Blake's head and getting hopelessly tangled in her black locks.

Papers carefully organized on her desk were thrown aside as Blake grabbed her by the collar and dragged her over to her side, her other hand wrapping around her waist and holding her tightly against her own body. Instincts finally kicking in, Weiss wrapped her legs around Blake and locked her ankles, deepening the kiss to lose herself completely.

Rei whined softly and hid her eyes cutely behind her paws, her nature making her unable to absorb the bright and choking emotions of love and acceptance.

She was denied anything more as Blake broke the kiss and nipped at her bottom lip, resting her against the desk and pressing their foreheads together. Weiss didn't need to hear any words to know Blake had seen what'd she'd been up after devouring the contents of Ruby's Will, fruitlessly searching for a deus ex machina to bring their leader back to them.

Whatever problems Weiss was having with her unknown blue units paled in comparison to their lack of an expert in controlling Ruby's rather volatile and trigger happy Semblance, any attempted usage beyond barely accelerating their bodies ending in plowed furrows and injured pride. By the time they had made the first made the time/dimension jump, Ruby had reigned almost supreme control over her Semblance to the point of using it for neuronal and internal body function acceleration, a level they'd most likely never reach.

"I couldn't, I mean, I can't figure out why my time travel won't work the way I want it to." A tear threatened to streak down her cheek until Blake wiped it away with a caring thumb. It wasn't hard to imagine how much she wanted for her magnum opus to work, for it to throw the three of them back in time and prevent the terrible repercussions of Prune. "But time is understood so little and I can only move objects to other dimensions."

Blake released a quiet snort, the notions such an intricate part of their reality, space, could be bent to the whim of three Semblances working together, but for the more incorporeal and vicious time to remain beyond their reach. After years spent together on the field, she knew Weiss wasn't asking for absolution for her failure to get it to work, but for her failure to get back to Ruby.

Her eyes sparkled with forgiveness and Weiss breathed a sigh of relief and tightened her hold around her partner's neck, content to sit and let those golden lasers burn the last of her doubt away. If only Weiss had learned to accept the good times and not let her foul mouth ruin them, having been repressed far too long under Jacques' reign to let her freedom of speech lie quietly.

"Is two days all you need to mourn your wife?" The dark humorous overtone disguised a nasty undertone of accusation and betrayal, making the deep purple shadows under her suddenly sharp and freezing eyes stand out. Blake didn't immediately react to the increased grip on the back of her head or the seeping cold of her transplanted piece of Weiss' core reacting to its original owner's emotions.

Weiss got a front row seat to what an incensed and grieving Faunus could do as she was lifted with ease and slammed into a bookcase, the slats of woods stabbing sharply into her spine. This pain took a backseat to the lack of oxygen filtering down to her lungs, Blake's hold just soft enough to avoid breaking her larynx or snapping her neck.

A low growl reverberated against her eardrum and she swallowed heavily, the simple action made extremely painful. Blake's pupils were almost non-existent, thin black holes piercing the ever-glowing storm of an exploding quasar. Shackles of Aura held her limbs down, drastically weakening the token protest to her imprisonment.

Blake's Aura pressure wasn't anywhere near as devastating as Ruby's, a sucking void meant to drain her enemy's hope and leave them paralyzed with thoughts of suicide. No... her's was a creeping maelstrom of subtlety, meant to invoke the childish feeling of being scared of the dark, of being afraid of the monsters lurking just out of sight. Too often had she been the monster, using her sheer skill to skulk in shadows and the dark to end the lives of worse monsters.

By Beacon's own rules she wasn't doing anything remotely illegal, seeing as their governance extended to the threat of Grimm and their nests, but under the laws of the five countries, she'd be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury of her peers. Ruby had done marvels by painstakingly writing out every single mission report by hand and then discretely filing into her team's physical file box, notifying Ozpin with a copy to be burnt at his discretion, but how she'd flown four S-ranks under the radar of the other three major countries was a mystery not worth pursuing. How Ozpin would handle their ranks and instances within the Hunter database was his problem, not theirs.

Wasn't like he could actually make them do anything, three S-ranks being just about equal to what the forces of Beacon could handle if the new High Command team was ignored.

Three normal S-ranks anyway.

"Don't forget who had to make the decision to either save Ruby from hell or kill her then and there to alleviate her suffering." A rarely used raspy voice tickled her eardrum, her brain taking a few precious seconds of oxygen-deprived thinking to realize Blake was actually speaking for the first time in forever. The grip on her throat lessened until she could place her feet back on stable ground, resolving to never again piss off her quiet but excessively violent teammate.

She could mentally feel Ruby's gaze on the back of her head, her leader reminding her too often she was just as violent and far more trigger happy to blow stuff up. A small smile graced her face, her memories chasing the phantom Ruby away.

Blake stepped back, placing a kiss on her forehead as an apology for her actions, simultaneously telling her a whole bunch of other things with her hesitance to do so, the quick dilations of her pupils, and the minute fidgeting of the deadly forearm ribbons.

"You're forgiven." Blake's ear immediately popped up at full attention, wiggling ever so slightly, happy she could get the message across. She had had no reason to fault Weiss for her dark levity, trying to make the best of their situation while also trying to extract information from their spy, their only real connection to the outside world during their isolation. "I loved her too." She quietly murmured, booping Blake on her nose on the way to picking up her scattered work from the floor. "What made you finally crawl out of your secluded hole?"

Blake removed her trusty scroll, swiping open the dreaded report from Qrow. Despite him having an innate trust in the wireless global communication system, he was paranoid enough to encrypt the message on top of the built-in program, not a tactic he'd employed until now. The shift to wartime paradigm didn't escape her eyes.

Weiss glanced over the offered scroll, a tired sigh escaping her lips as she fished around for a file within Ruby's box, removing a document and staring at it accusingly before circling a subsection angrily with a highlighter. Blake read the first few words upside-down, deciphering keywords related to the activation of wartime paradigms and increases to Vytal security, all nestled under a larger section relegated to a contingency plan if a Maiden ever fell into the wrong hands.

Blake took back her scroll, moving around the desk again and locking a hand on Weiss' wrist, gently tugging her from her seat. She didn't say anything as she pulled her into the hallway, Rei bouncing behind them and getting tangled in their legs.

She shoo'd the pup away, Yang's name sending her into pursuit mode, nose sniffing out the almost dead trail leading down to the depths of the castle. Weiss continued to let Blake drag her along, not entirely sure the surreal experience of following a Grimm to Yang was real, or whether this was a sleep-deprived hallucination brought on by Ruby's death.

The brisk dry cold made her aware this was real, the rough-hewn stone of the deepest levels sending shivers up her spine despite her being a Schnee and her short stint in the northern regions of Atlas. Rei didn't seem affected by the cold at all, her incorporeal form shrugging it off, but a glance to Blake's arm forced her to facepalm, creeping warmth racing along her limbs as she reached into her core and activated Yang's core fragment.

She didn't need to see the smile on Blake's face to know she was internally laughing at her, a return squeeze on her hand telling her more than anything. As stupidly dangerous as Project: Chimera was, she'd happily go through the mind-blanking pain again if it meant she could have a piece of her teammates with her at all times.

The darkened stone corridor eventually led out into a pristine hallway, so white and clean it made her want to scrub her eyes lest it remain burned into her corneas forever. She knew where this hallway lead to, but she'd only ever taken the elevator to get here, bypassing the winding and hidden passageways she didn't even know about.

During the years of Jacques Schnee, the lower levels of the Castle were relegated to hangar space for his private aircraft, but Yang has completely obliterated any resemblance to a hangar as her namesake dictated, leaving only the thick rolling doors to the bleak outside.

Scattered around the hangar were workstations and computers borrowed from inner-city SDC labs. Her scientists and engineers had thrown a helluva fit when Yang had come calling for Serenity and usurped their leadership and equipment, moving everything to under the Castle. They had quieted down after she'd reassigned them to experimental renewable energy technology and granted them a larger budget.

After siphoning the Faunus 'workers' from her mining camps, she ran into the problem of a huge income deficit, the expenditures of her company rapidly draining any stored funds. Automation had only partially solved the issue but frequent breaks and parts replacement, along with specialized equipment, required more funds than she had initially set aside.

Her big savior had come in the form of Ghira Belladonna chasing ideas of how to deal with the sudden influx of tens of thousands of Faunus. All of them might've barely had space with housing being constantly constructed, but many of them had nowhere to work and know nothing outside the world of mining.

She'd quickly hired many of those seeking employment back, restructuring her labor laws to guarantee safety and giving them livable wages and improved housing on-site while also allowing Menagerie appointed inspectors to periodically come in and make sure she wasn't following in the footsteps of her father.

Some disgruntled Faunus within Menagerie had cried abuse when her initial offer to reopen the mines fully had come through, most of them coming from the far-right militarized Fang supporters, but months of transparency between the SDC and Menagerie had smitten their arguments away, the two entities relying on each other to remain in good standing and afloat. Blake had quietly ensured the entire operation remained out of the news media, personally ferrying letters and contracts between the isolated island and Weiss while at Beacon.

Moving through the mess, Weiss started calculating the absurd cost of some of the extravagantly expensive pieces seemingly laying about with no rhyme or reason. She hadn't expected Yang to put such a dent into her funds while completely an essentially complete aircraft, the only real pieces missing being armaments and shielding, both of which had already been manufactured to her specifications and only needed to be installed.

Yang either didn't notice them from her spot working with a few wires within the interior fuselage, or she was ignoring them until they got closer. The classic bullhead frame had long ago been reshaped into a slimmer profile with the side doors sealed and the rear ramp installed, suited for the deployment of a first response team, sacrificing its larger fuselage and cockpit.

Her RAPIER engines had replaced the twin conventional jet engines, being moved from the ends of the wings to the back, twin rudders sticking out from their tops for greater yaw and pitch control. Its high aspect, high constant wings had been entirely redesigned into high ogival downswept deltas with foldable wing tips, screwing up its low-speed aerodynamics, but greatly increasing their control at the high speeds the RAPIERs could achieve at full burn.

The drop in control was countered with efficient turbines fans to enable quick drops from hypersonic mode and into battle mode, all of their weapons rendered useless while in the former. It allowed the craft to strafe in the same way the bullhead could, able to provide cover fire and greater maneuverability within tighter spaces, further increasing the near indomitable firepower Team RWBY could already bring.

They'd spared no expense on fully outfitting the first Serenity, but Yang was taking it to absurd levels to the point where there was a spare GAU-8 Avenger lying disassembled while the main one was already installed into the nose, and the only reason they didn't have two was because the sheer recoil would make the craft unflyable. There were dozens of other pieces of classified Atlesian weaponry lying around, making both of them wonder what exactly Yang had had to do to obtain those in less than two days.

A loud bang followed by an even louder expletive came out of Serenity, the monochromatic duo sharing looks of unsurprise, walking up to the lowered ramp and waiting for a Yang to stumble out of the black smoke. A self-satisfied duo awaited their last remaining teammate, Yang eventually coming out while coughing acrid smoke from her lungs, black soot and grease smeared across her face.

Bright crimson speckled with amethyst dared peek through all the dirt on her face, a dirty rag trying and failing to remove it, only succeeding in spreading it around and worsening the problem. She stopped at the bottom of the ramp, blinking the irritant from her eyes and then blinking again as she took in two people she hadn't seen in a while.

They were only slightly concerned when she started chuckling, a few quiet ones escaping before devolving a more normal laugh and then blowing up into a full-blown hysterical cackle, Yang taking to leaning against the craft after she failed to catch her breath and eventually leaving her hiccuping like a demented seal.

"Oh Blake, you've really outdone yourself this time." She clapped a few times to get rid of the soot on her hands, reaching out to the both of them to point accusingly. "I didn't know you could clone other people! Is this something you could always do or is this because of Chimera?"

"I'm real you idiot!" A misplaced wrench flew from the air and nearly hit Yang on her head, a small glyph appearing to deflect it before spiraling away into non-existence.

"Yeah, alright. Blake, I know you know enough about our mannerisms to copy any of us so just drop the act, give me my food, and go back to hiding in your room." Yang's acerbic words had the two of them sharing deadpan looks, her hard head itching for a fight after two days of non-stop work, ignoring Blake's earlier and different visits.

"If you used your head every once in a while you might've noticed Blake hasn't 'copied' me until now." Weiss bantered right back, more preoccupied with wondering how Yang had manifested an automated glyph defense system so quickly.

"You spent two days bringing me food with no reaction. I figure you're taking a different approach to distracting me from…" She didn't need to finish her sentence, the still unspoken event haunting their thoughts and dreams.

"I'm here because Blake dragged me from my office after learning Cinder succeeded in tracking down Amber and stealing her Maiden powers." Yang's red eyes narrowed in suspicion. She moved slowly to a workbench, removing the rest of the grease from her hands with a dirty rag.

"So?" She carelessly threw the rag aside and searches through her electrical components until she found what she needed. "The little girl got killed, big whoop. Nothing we can do about it."

Weiss furrowed her eyebrows, unsure of how to proceed against her nonchalant attitude. A few black shrink tubing found their placeholders in between her teeth as she continued rummaging through the box, making an increasing louder racket.

"We need to discuss how we proceed with our plans."

"The plan hasn't changed." She wiped a couple beads of sweat from her forehead, fixing her short ponytail to keep the hair from her face. "Whatever Ruby had planned is still there and I still have enough faith in her to continue with them. Unlike her wife it seems."

Blake refused to let her words get to her with nothing more than a small twitchy smile to betray she had heard her. A venting Yang was a healthy Yang, despite the misplaced hurt she was trying to inflict on her teammates.

"You're angry," Weiss stated, a not-so-pristine eyebrow raising in mock surprise, arms crossing to convey her annoyance.

That seemed to snap Yang from her taunt calm, crimson eyes suddenly boiling with molten iron and the air around them rising a few degrees, shimmering from the heat produced around her.

"Of course I'm angry!" Whatever small tidbits of hardware were scattered around her workbench or on the floor were sent flying off from the Aura shockwave. "You come here after only two days, thinking you can simply change around Ruby's plans? TWO DAYS! And you're willing to throw away what she built and worked for!"

They planned to let Yang vent, her volatile Aura posing a large threat despite them sharing a fragment, until she was done but Blake was forced to intervene when the floor underneath them started to shake, pieces of the rough cut stone ceiling falling around them. A clone was dispatched to get close and stun Yang from her anger, Blake knowing she could get gruesomely burned if she actually tried to punch her. Much like her mother, uncle, and bloodline before her, the Branwens were intensely passionate creatures susceptible to the basest of the raw emotions, mostly manifesting as burning rage.

A punch soared from the flying clone, intent on slugging Yang on her right cheek and snapping her from her stupor, but even before the burning cloak could dispel her, a glyph instantly appeared from shimmering invisibility, breaking her wrist and forcing an early dismissal. The real Blake grimaced, silently observing the phenomenon of the automatic defense, Yang seemingly unaware the threat to her had even been there in the first place.

"Calm down before you tear our home down." Weiss had moved closer to Yang during her musing, a wrapping of glyphs protecting her from the rampaging heat. "I loved her too, you idiot."

"You have a funny way of showing it." Her ice blue eyes peeked through the dense array of glyphs in front of her, gazing at the crimson eyes wavering behind the heat shield, able to make out the subtle tears leaking out only to get instantly burned up and disappear.

"She had this planned." Yang stared right back for a few moments, the heat gradually dissipating until she was left open the world again, the glyphs following soon after. She almost immediately demanded proof of her words, eyes still burning a harrowing vermilion, making them both wonder if they'd ever return to the brilliant amethyst they so loved. Weiss responded softly, telling her the paperwork was upstairs in her office, getting a disbelieving grunt in return, annoyed Ruby had left her Will in her own hand rather than digitized.

"I trust her enough to have had everything planned, and if she didn't, then I trust you to lead us through the rest." She caressed Yang's cheek softly, her anger slowly abating with each stroke. Stepping forward, she wrapped her arms around her neck and enjoyed the ambient warmth she always gave off. The defensive glyphs didn't pop up this time, making her wonder how their sentience could determine threats to Yang, or why it even chose to manifest.

"You're an idiot." Yang briefly nuzzled her cheek against Weiss' temple, the rolling storm of anger dissipating from within her soul, the dark and stormy crimson dulling to a quiet and mullish maroon, the color of her wife's favorite port. "But at least you're MY idiot."

She already knew Blake was massaging her temple and dragging her face down at the fluffy scene without having to glance over, the Faunus peeking through two of her fingers with a near indiscernible smile. Yang released one arm and beckoned her forward, a black blur shooting forward with a girly giggle before impacting into them with enough force to topple the lot of them and leave them sprawling on the dirty floor.

A barrage of laughter escaped all of them as they realized the absurdity of their situation: laying around in the lowest hangar of now their Castle in front of an almost complete Serenity while trying to work through Ruby's death, all the while Cinder and Salem remained oblivious to the shit-storm waiting for them come the Vytal Tournament.

Despite them losing their leader, they had all the trust their new leader, Yang, would lead to them to the mission finish, finally ending this toiling war with Salem's faction to bring in some measure of peace upon Remnant. Ruby might not have made it to see the end of their mission, but each of them had the drive to see it to the end, vowing to either see Ruby in their form of the afterlife or retire and see peace reign until they were called to answer the next crisis.

"C'mon, lemme show you what I've been working on." Yang pulled the both of them back to their feet, dragging them into the fuselage, brushing aside the errant smudges of soot bedecking the faux leather upholstery, a heavily damaged fuse box bolted within the inner framework where dozens of wires sat sparking with wasted power.

A couple of fuzes littered the ground right underneath it, pinning a schematic with wattage, amperage, and ohm scribbles, Yang's messily scrawled calculations denoted with even messier cross-outs, the correct arithmetic still escaping her.

A woman who had to check what 22 was with a calculator, and she was somehow in charge of building an experimental craft with an estimated worth of half a billion Lien and the ability to travel to suborbital altitude and lay waste to a landscape before leaving with a bone-chilling screech, mutually exclusive.

Serenity was a flying dream with a fundamentally unsound mechanical and electrical engineer, a dangerous aerospace engineer responsible for their bleeding edge hybrid engines, and a computer scientist with a stubborn enough mindset to lock the CCTS tower down behind a virtually indistinct server and craft a sentient AI to pilot and administer Serenity.

Yang had kept Serenity identical to its first iteration, the same collapsible cargo netting seating allowing for expended room for their two motorbikes or a single quad. The upper header area had secured netting to stash their go-bags and other affiliated gear, usually reserved to copious amounts of Dust or ammo to keep them supplied in the heat of battle.

Heavens, hell, and Neo only knew how much Dust Yang alone went through as a catalyst for her matter deconstruction if no other energy source was available, and not even they knew how much Judgement had cost them, potentially leaching off of their life cost to compensate.

For nothing could be gained without first having sacrificed for it, and Aura was a particularly vicious force when it came for its due, far more destructive than Judgement and on par with Annihilation. Yang had taken her genetic weapon and expanded upon it to take advantage of the law of conservation of energy, not even lacking the energy material necessary to send the planet into hellfire when the planet itself could serve as the fuel source in its own demise.

The rather pristine cockpit caught their attention, no evidence of any work being done on the console, taken from their memories and applied near perfectly save for a flat floor-parallel screen molded into the center console. Already the cockpit frame had been shaved down to almost half of a bullhead's standard size in order to further slim the craft profile for Weiss' RAPIER engines.

"Somewhere in between skydiving off the mountain into the snow, redecorating one of your training rooms, and hand-painting our ship a new name, I decided to give the ship's AI a personality." Before Weiss could protest against changing their child's name without either of the other two's input, Yang slid a finger across the screen and activated the high-speed rotating lasers underneath.

The console lights powered on, a warm hum permeating the fuselage as the embedded turbine spun up and prepared for vertical takeoff. The standby lighting flicked off, a typical arrangement to preserve military personnel's night vision unless overridden, but a familiar figure appeared as a hologram and lit up the cockpit, choking off her response.

She poked the hologram, the blue laser figure molding around her finger and trying to bat it aside, but the permeability failed to make anything move. Blake didn't poke the figure like she did, choosing instead to lean forward and inspect the meticulous detail Yang put into this miniature model, unable to find anything out of place from the collapsed scythe to the grey vambraces.

"Serenity never really meant anything to us, and I figured she deserved to be remembered better than just a name on a stone." Yang lowered the center console and blew up the figure, secondary and tertiary cameras opening up from hidden compartments and adding color until their late leader stood in her flickering three-dimensional glory.

"You… you…" Weiss whimpered quietly, unable to look away from the realistic image. Yang was left blindsided with nothing more than a blast of moving air to warn her of an incoming Faunus, Blake clinging to her back with hiccuping sobs escaping periodically. They were rare enough to make her freeze, dry and raspy from lack of use.

She didn't need to know Blake was thankful she had gone through the effort of sculpting Ruby as a hologram in order to give them all a sense of familiarity for the debut of their new airship, at least, that was her personal reasoning. Blake and Weiss knew her far, far too well to think she only did it to fill an emotional hole in the team, knowing she'd lock herself in the cockpit and throw out-of-domain suggestions and questions at the already exquisitely programmed AI.

They already knew she wouldn't get anything worthwhile from the AI, her programming limited to managing the ship's weapon armaments, interfacing with Beacon's computing network, and serving as Ruby's replacement for the bureaucratic nightmare that was paperwork. With the real Ruby not there to steal/do their paperwork, there was no way they were actually going to get any of it done without at least a programmed facsimile there to 'encourage' them, or do it for them.

And yes, Blake was extremely talented when it came to cranking out raw code and manipulating data, but actually putting together a competent AI to do more than Serenity's original parameters would require possibly years of additional work.

"You renamed her!?" Weiss was dangling out from the side cockpit window, legs locked up against the top frame to keep her from slipping out, yelling for her voice to After a short struggle against gravity, she pulled herself back into the cockpit and turned on Yang, face red from hanging upside-down. She couldn't see Blake from behind Yang's blonde mane but could hear her soft, but strangely thankful sounding cries muffled through her human teddy bear.

"We are so not calling her the Ruby Rose. That's an insult to her memory." Weiss stamped her foot, trying to squeeze by Yang to go and rename the ship to something more proper and less degrading.

"You mean you don't want to ride the Ruby?" Weiss stopped her attempt, head snapping sharply to blink rapidly, looking quite unsure whether she had heard correctly. Whatever terrifying mixture of laughter, grief, and gratefulness plaguing Blake was wiped away with the idiotic pun, the human backpack pulling on Yang's ear as punishment.

It was crass and raw, exactly as expected from the team juggernaut. It was her way of working through their leader's death, no longer really stuck on dealing, but finally moving to implement their plans, even adding on to ensure their success.

Blake felt the hole in her heart heal over slightly as Weiss ripped into Yang for her habit, getting a return banter about how 'punny' it was. The twitch in her eye was cuter than anything, Yang laughing it off and ruffling her hair, all the while carrying her around like she weighed nothing.

It was comforting, know they could still work together and hadn't yet completely self-destructed from Ruby's death. None of them had run away yet, ran into the bottle, or really ignored their reality, choosing to lock themselves and focus on productive work as a form of honor. The large scar on her soul would heal eventually, just as long as she had her team.

She could feel Ruby smacking her on the back of her head for the sappy moment, Yang smiling as she felt Blake grin wryly against her neck. Weiss stopped being petulantly angry once she realized nothing she was saying was getting through, a stupid smile gracing her face, and she knew, somehow, they'd be okay.

* * *

Never in his life had he seen Ozpin lose it, not in the absolutely cathartic and silent manner his office lay in shambles. Sure, he didn't go postal like any other high strung bureaucrat with a bevy of paperwork littered on the floor and lines of recreational stimulant ready to snort from his desk, but he sure didn't like to keep it in.

His liquor cabinet was decorated with more open bottles than he believed could fit within, spread across the mirror top. More bottles sat strewn across his coffee table, and one bottle of chocolate liquor rested by his side as he sat slumped within his seat and looked over one nondescript sheet.

He barely acknowledged him entering his office suite, rotating slowly back and forth in his seat while frowning and trying to set fire to his paperwork. On top of his evolving alcoholism, his tabletop monitor desk had several concentric cracks across its surface, a testament to how destructive Oz could get when provoked.

Poor desk.

"You wanted to see me?" Qrow snagged one of the many stray bottles, briefly looking over the label and noting it cost several thousands of Lien and taking a seat on the destroyed desk just off to Ozpin's side. He'd been at the mercy of two ex-lovers with enough tension between them to cut with a dull spoon pestering him with questions ranging to what he knew about Ruby and what he'd been up to over the last decade, and had only managed to leave their tender mercies for this meeting.

"Read." Ozpin picked up the paper and gave it one more glance before handing it over, sinking back into his seat to close his eyes and massage away a headache. Qrow took the paper and read over the title, picking out Ruby's signature as well as noting her handwriting.

The title of 'The Lucifer Protocols' already had his other hand clenching onto the table edge, the old Bible reference promising an untold amount of fuckery similar to the way it had originally been responsible for dozens of wars and billions of lives lost centuries ago.

In his opinion, the old book was worth more as a fantasy novel than as the core of a religion, but he had fully read over the text as part of his short stint as a college student for an ancient literature class. His short essay on the creation of the planet had initially been a self-imposed challenge until he ended up gathering all of his university's copies and burned them in the quad.

That'd been the end of his time as a student, unsurprisingly.

The first lines were nothing more than dense legalese denoting Ruby's rank and final executive order, but the next lines had his heart leaping into his throat and his Semblance spilling out of his body to pool down around his feet. Ozpin gently pushed the coalesced shadows around him, his bright Aura repelling the creeping miasma.

"This…" He gulped heavily, giving Ozpin the sheet back only for it to spontaneously combust, taking the damning orders and making sure they never saw the light of day.

"Ruby," Ozpin started, heavily dragging himself from his seat and stretching his limbs while he walked over to the panoramic window and gazed over onto his district, thousands of civilians milling out and about outside his vision range, unaware of the turmoil sitting just under the veil of Beacon's security. ", wasn't a good Hunter, but everything she did was for Remnant and her people as our selfless Commander."

"This is beyond any sort of cover-up I've ever had to perform, and you're asking me to do this to my own daughter, my late Commander." Qrow stole the bottle and easily emptied out the rest of its contents, hoping to blackout the last minute of direct orders. "You can still override her orders as the current Commander."

"Not my decision anymore." He looked over to see what he meant, eyes catching on the silver emblem flying between his fingers. It'd been cleaned from its sooty appearance from the last time he saw it. "You may not be an S-rank on the field, but I'd sooner let the Grimm overrun Vale than make your sister our 5th Commander."

"Than may God forgive me for my sins." He caught the silver emblem, getting lost in her own face appearing on Remnant's moon. He had deep shadows under his eyes, his skin looked gaunt and pale, and his beard looked more scraggly than ever, but it was still him underneath it all.

"I wouldn't be so afraid of God." Ozpin replied glibly, patting him on his shoulder in a show of mocking support as if he knew God himself. "I'd be more afraid of what the rest of Team RWBY will do once they learn of the Lucifer Protocols."

"You mean they don't-" Whatever color he had remaining on her face got sucked into the ever-growing dark pool at his feet when his Headmaster shook his head. No bottle was close enough for him to grab and he couldn't muster enough strength to move across the room and find a decent one. "May God have mercy on me then."

"God left the building years ago Qrow." Ozpin took the silver emblem and pinned it to Qrow's shoulder, stepping back to take in the form of his new Commander. He continued smiling infuriatingly, a silver glow permeating from his warm brown eyes. "But yeah, start praying."

* * *

Suddenly being shoved from stark blindness and rupturing chest pain into renewed sight and a permanent feeling of transcendence made this entire situation feel akin to the one time Weiss had spiked her strawberries with a hallucinogenic and she had spent the next few hours on a good trip.

Death wasn't a topic she had ever studied, only accepted as a fact of life, but even she was fairly sure her consciousness was supposed to cease, not end up seated in front of a steel table with an empty chair opposite her. The room around her repeated in an infinite series of reflecting tiles, shooting off into the distance until they disappeared into oblivion.

Taking a moment to take in her bearings, she looked over her form to catch any discrepancies she could remember from the time she could still see what she was wearing. Her hands weren't clean and unblemished as she might've suspected in her afterlife, no doubt her form taking from her memories and choosing the most comfortable body, clothes from her time as Vale's Commander wrapping her and Crescent Rose resting clamped to its holster.

What really interested her was how she could see again, and believing this was simply a construct of her mind quickly went away as a bowl of ice-cream materialized on the metal table, the steel of which she wished was more polished so she could see herself in it. She shoved the thought aside, the question of whether she still had her natural silver eyes or Rei's glowing vermilion deemed mute as a multi-coloured blob of mirror shards combined and revealed a familiar associate.

"Surprised to see me?" Neo's voice, at least the one she used for this afterlife simulation, didn't match what she imagined it to be at full strength. She sat with her legs crossed as she reached for the untouched bowl and started to the devour the ice-cream with speed comparable to her and cookies. "I did promise to save you, but your body didn't make it."

"And why would little ol' me interest you?" She posed the rhetorical question, willing a bowl of strawberries to appear in her hand and getting a vicious grin in response. She was playing Neo's game right now, stuck in a construct with no obvious way out, and at her tender mercy.

She might not have planned to die before the Vytal Tournament, but her plans could still be salvaged, potentially to a greater benefit than initial planned. A similarly ravenous grin formed on her face, a timeline of events forming in her mind with dozens of permutations cycling through the worst possible case scenarios without even counting the rest of her team's interference.

Her endgame had only just begun.

* * *

AN: Shoutout to Hellwyrm. Had to quickly take this chapter down due to formatting errors. And drop me a review to let me know what I can work on and how to improve!


	26. Unwritten

Chapter Twenty-Six

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 **Unwritten**

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Their bed didn't feel the same.

It wasn't the expensive cotton gliding silkily against her skin or the mass of pillows strewn around the ludicrously large bed. The tangle of limbs wasn't any new, her legs firmly trapped in a death grip in Weiss' own and her chest occupied with Blake's head, her secondary ears tickling her chin and flicking absently.

One of her hands gently played with the thin membrane, brushing the soft ear flap as she wondered whether these were actually Blake's secondary ears or if they were her primary. She knew they worked, having kept them alive from many ambushes, but she'd never really asked about them or learned how they connected to her human ears.

But she also knew Blake wouldn't hesitate to show off her literal claws if she woke her to ask inane questions about easily searchable facts... if she could reach a scroll. She let her head fall back down, huffing quietly. Sleep wouldn't take her, remaining just out of reach for the last couple hours as she vainly tried to forget about their missing bedmate usually clinging to her arm or spooning Weiss.

It hurt, so much, to have the three of them finally come together to a shared bed after a few days of straight working, lost in their chosen fields, trying to put together their leader's final puzzle, desperately clinging to answers cleverly hidden within her will.

It came as a devastating heartbreak to realize their leader had had no answers to the growing calamity surrounding them. While impeccable in her management of Vale's Hunters as a whole, she revealed nothing to help them fight against Cinder, nor against the Fang, and certainly not against the Grimm Queen just waiting to come bearing down with vengeance.

Whatever plan she had had for dealing with the Maidens and sealing the Relics of a time past had died with her, nothing of her mind left for them to pick up and salvage. Either she hadn't actually had a plan for dealing with the rapidly oncoming Vytal Festival, or she hadn't been as omniscient as she seemed, keeping their morale up as she tirelessly worked for a solution, even if it meant lying to their faces.

It was harder imagining her as a simple mortal Hunter, having the same flaws her predecessor in Ozpin had. For so long, she had been the glue keeping them all together, fearlessly leading her dangerously untrained team into skirmish after skirmish until the hammers of war and grief molded them into the soldiers and assassins they were today.

For four years she'd led them in a cold war against both Atlas and Vale, three of those spent as the leader of Mt. Glenn, a year and a half of that spent recuperating into the remorseless machine capable of bringing down Primordials in the blink of an eye; their martyr.

Fast forward to after Remnant's fall, she'd helped organize the liberation of thousands of Faunus from the SDC labor camps, keeping her alter ego chained so she could deal with the bloodthirsty parasites who dared call themselves their Council, all at the cost of her own mental health and her Hunters.

Only for all her plans to fall to chaos under the careful watch of the gods reigning over them.

However, she'd only had to think for a few hours to begin charting the new course they had to take to finally, maybe, see peace reign across Remnant, still while dealing with an increasingly active alter ego capable to ripping armies to shreds; an old ally she needed greatly with the constant mental strain of dealing with their complicated war.

She'd made it seem so easy, hiding every decision behind the blank mask of her psychopathy. Ordering the refortification of Beacon after her installment, the placement of disguised clones within Council ranks, the growth of their inward facing information network, the assassination of Jacques Schnee, the construction of Menagerie's CCTS tower, the armistice with Sienna and her White Fang, the return of Raven Branwen, the development of Team JNPR, and the reestablishment of Mountain Glenn as a forward base.

Everything the public knew nothing about, everything secreted away within Beacon's secure servers, along with everything not written down, and then filed or burned. Everything even the Hunters within Beacon knew nothing about had all been for their benefit, a convoluted map designed with a singular purpose of protecting them from threats unseen, threats that weren't even supposed to be on their radar.

She'd been naive as a child and teenager, dreaming to follow in the footsteps of her extended family and fight humanity's enemy. If only she had known what damage human beings could bring about to themselves when asked to choose a side. Her leader hadn't needed protecting from Grimm, as Tai had thought, but from the decisions she had had to take in her long reign across the three dimensions.

And in the end she had failed, leaving only her finals orders, with their enemy stronger than they had been originally and leaving them bereft of a leader.

She had cried enough tears and thrown enough tantrums while working on their new airship, begging Neo to break the hellish illusion they were trapped in. Ozpin got a few choice words for putting his successor into many difficult positions and Salem got cursed out for sitting cloistered in her dimension and playing her game, but she knew the fault, in the end, had laid with their leader, trapped in a lose-lose situation against her own will.

A thin circle of pale yellow appeared above her free hand, flickering sharply as she tried to remember Weiss' 'advice'. She had initially believed glyphs relied on concentration to maintain, but had quickly been dissuaded from the idea after Weiss had smirked at her all-knowingly and told her she was going about it completely the wrong way. Her own semblance didn't have a concentration component, so ingrained into her daily lifestyle she could activate it without a thought.

Simply summoning a glyph earlier had resulted in a ball of Aura manifesting above her palm and them promptly blowing up, making Weiss cackle viciously and forget about their recent misfortunes at her slightly sunburnt face. Their mad genius had clammed up afterward, lost in her own world of trying to make a functioning clone rather than the pillars of Dust bearing almost no resemblance to her.

Almost, but at least she could make a clone while she was stuck with a flickering circle of Semblance that couldn't even be used as a frisbee for Rei. Weiss had alluded to her going about the process from the complete wrong direction, focusing on the maintenance rather than the initial creation.

Come to think, Weiss's Semblance could never have ever been concentration based, seeing as even concentrating across three glyphs while in active combat would be almost impossible, especially given her overseeing role of a control Hunter, never truly having to step onto the field of battle and instead remaining encased in her protective ball above it.

She knew enough to know Weiss' Semblance relied on fractals, a mathematical subset of Euclidean space dealing with infinitely recursive sets. Rarely did they apply in her field of mechanical engineering, strictly relegated to tribology, the study of friction, wear, lubrication, and the design of bearings; the science of interacting surfaces in relative motion.

Whatever textbooks she had scrounged up in their first dimension hadn't alluded to many more applications but with Weiss firmly ingrained in physics and maths, and Blake a wiz with computer science, she had worked on Serenity for weeks to make sure any wear and tear was minimal and she could always be at her best.

She had been perfect, a bleeding edge masterpiece of mechanical engineering and an almost sentient AI until they'd been forced to abandon her for another chance of saving their accursed and dreadful world.

And then they had rebuilt her, only for them to get dragged back into their past bodies and have to restart the entire FUCKING BUILDING PROCESS AGAIN!

The tiny imaginary Neo residing in her mind threw her ice-cream against the inside of her skull, huffed angrily, and then disappeared in a burst of mirror shards, perfectly timed to a crack appearing in her floating circle. It was a new development, however, and she was thankful it hadn't woken either of her bedmates.

Upon closer inspection, she noticed the crack wasn't 'natural' to say the least. Around the outer edge of the centimeter diameter but paper thin construct was an almost imperceptible fractal, a line of orange flames standing out amongst the glow. It sealed back up the moment she thought about the flame pattern and she swore she saw a lightbulb pop up and bounce tauntingly.

She blew the lightbulb away, a stray hair becoming loose and landing exactly between her eyes, adding to the irritation she was feeling at Weiss for not telling her of the secret to her Semblance, a secret so stupidly simple she should've figured it out immediately instead of trying to analyze it.

If she didn't need to maintain concentration throughout the entire glyphs existence, then maybe she only needed to concentrate doubly hard on generating it. She held the same flame pattern from the crack in the forefront of her mind, sending Aura soaring down the wide channels of her arm.

The floating circle immediately stopped flickering, its soft yellow color brightening into an intense supernova. Many lines of Semblance reached out from the outer ring and started mingling into her own unique glyph. Rather than Weiss' hard-edged, twelve-pointed snowflake, a wavering six-pointed star with flaming edges coalesced at the center.

The pull on her Aura dropped to inconsequential and she tentatively let the flame pattern drop into her subconsciousness. The glyph remained floating and glowing, wicks of flames licking the edges despite no longer having anything more than Aura to sustain them. She moved her hand and the glyph followed with it, lighting up their bed and illuminating the mass of shadows laying by her feet.

"I'm happy you figured it out but turn it off," Weiss mumbled out from her other side, reaching over Blake to bat Yang's hand down, the glyph still locked above her hand, it's glow only slightly dampened by the duvet and sheet.

"How do I get rid of it?" Yang whispered, trying to shake the glyph off her hand but only managing to wake the sleeping shadow with crimson eyes, Rei picking her head up and sluggishly moving towards the shining light with interest.

"I don't know, just, think about it going away. I never really bothered thinking about it, I just… did it." Weiss whispered back, petting Blake's ears as she stumbled through the haze of waking up. Rei took a peculiar interest in her new toy, pawing at the sheets to get to it free and then testing its strength by gnawing at it.

It didn't fracture or break as easily as she may have believed, Rei getting a good few playful bites in before pouncing at it to try with some gusto, aggressively trying to either break the glyph or detach it from her hand, the awkward placement making her unable to fully leverage her bigger weight.

Rei had taken to appearing in her slightly larger form when forcing her way onto their bed, standing at around a meter in height and weighing a whopping 50 kg. It didn't take a genius to realize she was also grieving her master's death, cuddling up to whoever would acquiesce to her.

"Too loud." Figures their quiet talk would wake their last bedmate, her ears taking on a life of their own as she lifted her head and rested her chin on Yang's sternum. She didn't need to speak more than two words for them to clam up and apologize for disturbing her before molesting her ears to keep her quiet.

Their canine companion, however, felt no need to keep quiet, tussling with the glowing glyph and pouncing playfully as Yang played tug-o-war, her construct remaining in perfect shape despite the few but intense moments she spent creating it.

"Rei, down." Weiss reached over the pair and briefly wrestled with the Grimm, pulling sharply and leaving Rei whimpering at the loss of her toy. Yang would've happily played with her but with Weiss still occupying an arm and now commandeering her other hand she could really only pout and accept the ministrations. "I haven't ever seen any permutations in the Schnee line of glyphs so I'll have to borrow you for some… experiments."

She could tell these wouldn't be the type of experiments she appreciated.

Blake harrumphed angrily and sent her Yang most irritated eyes, pushing herself up to sit on her and stretch, a few satisfying spinal cracks echoing around their large bedroom. Swinging to the side, she hopped off and proceeded to rummage around the floor to find her socks, pulling them on and wiggling her toes happily as the cold of the castle abated.

Gambol Shroud founds its way onto her back and she was out of the room with nothing more than a smirk sent back their way.

Weiss immediately collapsed on her way out of her comforting prison, the duvet tangling up her limbs. Rei peered over the edge, confused at the rapidly developing series of events. Yang joined her in comically looking down at the bemused Weiss, the heiress' brain still rebooting from the fall.

Shaking the tumble from the head, she scrambled up and ran over to her dresser, pulling out her form-fitting workout clothing while trying to simultaneously divest her night clothes. What resulted was an awkward mix of clothing as a sports bra found itself put on over her camisole.

Yang finally took pity on her and jumped forward to help, pulling the tight supporting top back over her head and taking the camisole off first. Though Weiss didn't particularly need any supporting equipment, she never prevented her from catching a breath and making her stop to admire her when she was so exquisitely exposed in front of her. Weiss blushed a soft red as Yang stopped helping her get dressed and stood there in admiration. She was perfect in her own way, Yang thought, from her beautifully perfect and lustrous hair down to the rare scar gracing her body, her detached fighting style meaning she was far less likely to incur injury.

Still didn't stop her from teasing her for the overlapping scars on her hip from the time Myrtenaster was more than a symbol and actually found use, stemming from the many embarrassing times she'd missed her sheath and cut across both clothing and skin.

She would never live it down as long as her mind existed and would haunt her until the end of her days no matter which body she inhabited, the scars having been inflicted during and before her team at Beacon.

They still sent goosebumps coursing across her skin and shocks soaring up her spine every time Blake or Yang ghosted across them.

Grabbing an errant hairband from the dresser, she pulled her own hair back into a dresser, again questioning whether keeping her hair long enough to tie into a ponytail was worth it. Her reputation for never cutting it and harshly dealing with anyone daring to even bring anything sharp close to her head flying into her head.

Her hair was her gold after all and only the foolish dared to go after a dragon's possession. Kinda puts a perspective on life if she once defended it with earnest, even from her sister, but happily shortened it when she later requested it. She had cited her torture as a reason but she knew she could've fought against her order, kept her hair in a tight bun when on duty.

Her leader had been logical and the absolute terror coursing through her on her behalf had made the decision for her, and she hadn't looked back since.

Call it character development.

Now if only she could do something about her egregiously large breasts because those things were seriously too damn large to be anything but a hindrance in close quarter combat. Bindings could really only do so much before those clinging sacks of fat started to move outside of their constraints and it sure wasn't easy to fight with extra pounds swinging uselessly.

If Weiss didn't like her boobies so damn much then maybe she'd consider breast reduction surgery. First she'd had to check if Beacon even covered that because Weiss sure as hell wouldn't pay for it.

Bandages tightly wrapped and tucked away, she followed an excited Rei out into the hallway. A familiar weight impacted her back and she found herself carrying Weiss, the lazy girl finding it too demeaning to walk herself to wherever Blake had marched off to.

It wasn't easy keeping up with Rei, her larger form's leaps crossing meter by meter instead of centimeter by centimeter, the hallway carpet bunching up whenever she turned and launched forward. Weiss locked her ankles to keep stable on her as she started on a brisk jog to keep up, noting they were quickly meandering towards the outside areas.

Atlas didn't have true spring or summer months, it's northern latitude preventing any temperatures above 10° Celsius. Though there was no snow falling from the sky, the entire environment was tinted blue, the gray stone of the large courtyard bleeding cold. Perhaps in a previous age the training yard would've been grandiose, but the dilapidated columns and cracked stonework paving spoke to a lack of maintenance, the Schnees before the current generation finding no use for it.

Blake was already perched up on one of the columns, wrapping one of her hands with bandages, the other already prepped and waiting for use. Somewhere along the way out here she'd come across one of her dozens of go-bags and changed into her lighter stealth gear, carbon interwoven with composite nano-material swathing her entire body in a form-fitting suit designed to minimize profile but sacrifice storage.

She knew Blake still had enough knives hidden on her to disable most of their forces and still have one left over for hand-to-hand. If Weiss wasn't currently locked on her then she'd do some very naughty and inappropriate things to that suit, testing exactly how sharp her teeth were and how well the material could handle such instruments.

All in the name of science, of course.

Out of the three of them out there in the morning light, Weiss had the least amount of clothing on. As much as she moaned about the cold and loved cuddling up to her to warm up, she had grown up here after all, spent her childhood throwing snowballs at the guards and Winter until she couldn't feel her toes.

Of course with Yang's Aura fragment keeping her perpetually warm she could afford to only be out there in a sports bra and dolphin shorts. Whatever modesty she had hidden behind her excuse of not having Yang by her had melted away, letting her get away with almost wearing nothing without having to worry about the dangers of hypothermia.

Though she'd deny she ever needed Yang's warmth in perpetuity, preferring her cuddles above everything else.

"You know, wearing that suit only makes me want to 'accidentally' cause it to malfunction." Blake smirked at Weiss banter, purposefully unzipping her bodysuit to reveal a hint of cleavage restrained by yet more bandages. She landed daintily after leaping from the column, dust barely moving from her landing place.

Her hand lightly rested on Gambol, thumb brushing against the guard, her full weight positioned on the balls of her feet with calves tensed and ready to spring off in any direction. Another hand was already playing with a knife she pulled from Neo only knows where, fingers flipping it ever so skillfully.

This fight had been coming since Chimera, and Rei was happily going to sit it out, hiding out in the entrance back into the castle.

"You should never let an assassin choose the battlefield." Blake's warning came with a half dozen knives bearing down on her, her shields taking noticeably more Aura to recharge after the assault. Her eyes widened as she turned to where they came from, black rose petals trailing across the courtyard.

She quickly resolved to never get distracted by questionable occurrences again as a foot slammed into her cheek and sent her flying into the landscape, her shields tanking the worst of the damage. Blake must've spent a damn good portion of her time practicing with her late wife's Semblance, both the knives and kick sapping more Aura than they should've.

Another loud slam, this time against something more solid, meant Weiss had also been subjected to a similar kick but instead had slammed into one of her glyphs. Pulling away some of the larger rocks keeping her pinned, she came face to face with a Blake clone ready to help her up.

She only knew it was a clone after its eyes glowed akin to a forge, the Fire Dust construct pulling down more heavy rocks to keep her pinned while she dealt with Weiss. All of her personal shields were still up and running and a quick check on her levels confirmed she was still running hot.

She couldn't afford to meet another clone on her way out, having already lost time on her mistake. Reaching into her own core, she channeled her Aura into her limbs, keeping its explosive tendency at bay until the charge was built.

A shower of rocks blew across the courtyard as she released her Aura, a sphere of fire roaring from her and chasing away the cold. Blake looked to be having a field day, a veritable army of clones no doubt hidden across their sparse sparring grounds. She must've quickly pressed Weiss after she'd kicked her, giving her no chance to get above them and put her glyphs into place.

She was down to Myrtenaster and a small glyph acting as a buckler, Blake's constant and scattered attack pattern draining her stamina and putting her on her back foot, despite the stellar footwork she'd cultivated back in Beacon.

Oh, how times changed.

She might not have the environment control Weiss had with her glyphs, but she had her creative moments. The rubble she'd generated from her impact became lethal projectiles under her enhanced strength.

She only realized what hell she'd unleashed when Blake crumbled into earth and Weiss finally had enough space to flex her Semblance. Glyphs snapped into place immediately upon gaining some breathing room, Weiss now safely tucked away in her cocoon. A knife glanced off her cheek from an unknown direction, Blake expressing her ire at the perceived mistake.

And oh, what a mistake she had made, glyphs starting to form under her feet and forcing her to move lest she get rooted to the spot. Weiss' mad cackle echoed across the ground and Blake sent her the most annoyed look she could muster.

Either that was the real one or those clones were about to come down on her with a vengeance.

Everything was a clone unless proven otherwise.

She could throw as many rocks and punch those glyphs until her fist bled, but she knew that glyph cocoon was impenetrable, layer upon shingled layer covering almost every angle conceivable, all except the ground, at least in this current iteration.

Already leaping across the collapsed columns and clinging to the mountainside around the clearing, she channeled the little amount of her former leader's Semblance she had control over and launched to the ground, a large shockwave rippling out around her and destroying the glyphs appearing to trap her.

A fracture cracked away from her foot and beelined towards Weiss, reaching under her protective cocoon and breaking her footing. The glyphs she had forming under both her and Blake shattered in a brilliant display of silver light, her concentration taking a hit as she reassessed her strategy.

A strategy she quickly needed to abandon as Blake sent miniature explosives into the gap between her glyphs and the ground, a bright fire forcing Weiss to abandoned her protection and stumbled gasping out of the smoke, slashing wildly with her rapier.

Another Blake was already waiting for her, wrenching her arm painfully behind her back and then slamming her harshly into the ground. Her theory from earlier held true as every already created glyph remained hovering in place, the concentration she had originally theorized Weiss needed to maintain them being a null factor.

The only real constraint on them was Aura and as long as Weiss was conscious and connected to them they'd remain up and continue to both block the movement and direct line of sight. Here fighting style made her particularly annoying to her, usually having to be within skirmishing distance to truly put her strength and impenetrable shielding to use.

Good for pounding infantry and vehicles into the ground, but not really great for trying to catch an assassin. Her only saving grace against Blake was she had nothing to really pierce through her shield, her enormous Aura pools recharging any damage taken them instantly. If it was Weiss at full strength then neither of them really stood a chance.

And as if to make her day worse, and send the Blake clone into shock, Weiss crumbled into what looked to be graphite, every single glyph collapsing with it. Blake looked over at her dumbfounded, unsure whether to call the spar over or chuck a knife at her and continue it.

Weiss' signature laugh echoed from above them, making their eyes widen and spring them into action, Blake throwing a knife and getting out of the way while Yang leapt up and attempted to break down the start of her floating cocoon, a much more all-rounded protection.

"Oh… shit." That was all she managed to get out before hundreds upon hundreds of glyphs snapped into a dome around their arena, another pair attempted to catch her from the air and yet more cutting off Blake from potential attack routes.

The three-way battle became a game of cat and mouse, Weiss manipulating glyph spawn points and control surfaces to move them where she wanted, leading them into partially created glyphs to lock their limbs and take them out of the fight. This was her battlefield now, her absolute defense preventing any actions in response.

Blake threw a number of smoke grenades out before ripping open into a Wind clone, sending the smoke flying out into the enclosed dome area and drastically reducing Weiss effectiveness on the field. The Aura strain might be reduced due to Yang's fragment working overtime, but they still took time and concentration to make.

Her vision wasn't obscured enough to see if Blake had more clones lurking about to take her out, but between the acrid smoke and Weiss' existing glyphs she might as well have been, her strength unable to do anything in this fight.

Such was the woe when fighting against two people who didn't need to even come close to her.

Another clone detached from up higher on the cliffs and fell straight onto Weiss' cocoon, landing with a decisive thud and staring deeply into her wide and frightened eyes. Blinking the smoke out, she wondered what the clone's plans were until she caught its impossibly black eyes and blood tinged hair.

The clone briefly touched the cocoon and the entire construct shattered into pieces, Weiss dropping down into the smoke, still frozen in shock from coming face to face with her dead leader.

A footfall had her turning around, only for an elbow to slam into her temple and knock her into unconsciousness, the blunt force behind it completely bypassing her shields. She could only see black petals falling down onto the ground through the haze before she gladly went into a dreamless slumber.

Her last thought was on how Blake had kicked their asses... thoroughly.

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It wasn't Blake sharpening her many knives that woke her up but Weiss' panicked shuffling, their shared duvet getting sent across the room. The first thought right after being annoyed at Weiss for disturbing her sleep got torn to shreds as a monumental headache pulsed angrily through her, wiping any coherent thought from forming.

She gratefully accepted the cold hand towel Blake handed her and pressed it to her bruised temple, the maelstrom abating a few degrees. Blake had pulled out all the stops and then thrown in a few new ones, catching both her and Weiss by surprise.

"Did you have to hit me so hard, you ass?" Blake shrugged nonchalantly, ignoring the betrayed blue eyes trying to drill in her skull, and patting her condescendingly on her head, making sure to run her hand through the silky strands of liquid gold. She knew the answer already, having long tested what her shield could take and what they couldn't.

Stupid blunt force damage had no counter other than dodging.

Stupid Blake for knowing exactly how to kick their asses despite all power ranking putting her at the bottom of their team.

"Good job." She could really say nothing else, Blake having pulled them apart brilliantly. Against their leader, smoke screens wouldn't have been effective at all, but against her, reliant on close quarters and vision, nothing could be better. While she couldn't beat her into submission, hampering her was well within her skill set.

"Good job!?" A hairband got sent into the Faunus' forehead, bouncing off with a ping and landing somewhere on the floor. Yang's ambient warmth quickly dissipated under the onslaught of a glacier, a miniature blizzard appearing just below the ceiling and sending snowflakes spiraling down around them. "You used _her_ against me, against us!"

"I don't trust Neo." Blake let one land on her tongue, the Aura construct fizzling out as it made contact. The rest of the storm raged around them, a thin blanket of snow briefly covering the furniture and floor before melting into imperceptible fragments of energy. "Both of you freezing in a fight against her is a real possibility."

Weiss instantly summoned a glyph over Yang's opening mouth.

"If you were about to make a 'freeze' pun then Ozpin help me I'm banishing you into the deepest and darkest cells this castle has." Yang wisely kept from attempting to peel off the glyph, her crimson eyes promising pun retribution in the near future.

At least Rei was having fun playing around in the snow, rolling around absolutely everywhere, the white particulate getting trapped and swirled around in her shadowy form, making her look like a miniature and hyperactive galaxy with binary red mega-stars on the outskirt.

"Whatever truce we had with Neo died with our only connection to her." Blake tapped the gag on Yang's mouth, the glyph shattering in the same explosive radiance Weiss had earlier, the pieces of it breaking up in shards under some unseen force and disappearing into the ether. "Better to get the two of you used to fighting the worst she can conjure up."

"You're forgetting which one of us…" Yang trailed off, her ethereal eyes dimming into a subdued indigo. Her right hand twitched close, an everpresent reminder of the deed she'd performed. She was too terrified to even look down at it, afraid it'd once again be slathered in her leader's blood.

Blake took her hand and intertwined their fingers, smiling softly. "And you're forgetting I was ready to kill her from the moment I found her broken and bleeding those many years ago."

"I'm starting to regret keeping her annoying Grimm pet because I can't even stay mad at you properly anymore." Weiss huffed, glaring at their demonic creature currently wagging her tail incessantly and returning the baleful glare happily. Rei answered back with a cheeky yip when Weiss stuck her tongue out childishly.

"You think that was Salem's plan?" Rei lolled her tongue out, cocking her head quizzically at the mention of her creator. "Give us an emotion-sucking machine to not only loosen our resolve against fighting all Grimm but also make us apathetic towards each other."

Rei shook off the snow accumulated on her back and leaped onto the bed, settling into a comfy spot Yang and Weiss. The latter rapped her knuckles harshly against the former's skull, the knock pushing Yang's head aside and sending a jarring shake traveling through her body. "When did you get so perceptive?"

Yang massaged the growing bruise while flipping her the bird, not deeming any additional response necessary.

"Salem could've crippled us long ago by taking out our leader," Blake answered for her. "Having Rei has only taught us we don't understand anything about Grimm. Our offensive against her and her faction hasn't changed."

Rei started growling the moment she brought up attacking her creator but quickly fell mute to Weiss' tough ministrations, her rising hackles getting brushed down with a careless hand. "Shush, we know Salem created you but you were created for a purpose of balancing out our leader's sacrifice so remember you are ours."

The growling abated into her weird canine purr, her loyalties remaining firmly within Blake's hand for now as her former master's mate. Yang wasn't going to actually let her rest of peace, picking her up and playfully wrestling with her nipping and clawing right back.

"Hope you can wrestle better than you fought today." Blake teased lightly, scratching idly at her throat as she passed her word limit for the day. It was still weird for her, having functioning vocal cords, and the phantom pain from before her miraculous healing was still there, a minute twinge whenever she thought about it.

"Hey, you might've utterly decimated us but I wasn't trying to blow the castle off the mountain." Yang defended, now fending off verbal barbs for her rather pitiful performance and physical barbs from an energetic puppy. She was still a puppy despite her large form.

Blake, however, wasn't buying her defense, not after having blindsided her and then collapsed a cliff on her. Though she had seen her rampage through Grimm and army alike, she wasn't quite the nimble fighter she was, and she'd smugly chalk up a victory in the great book of scorekeeping.

"And I would've won if you didn't pull off some utter bullshit to break my glyphs, or if you didn't play your sick mental warfare games with me!" Weiss bit back, her usual dominance on the field getting brutally demolished with her first unable to disengage from Blake to set up the field and then later falling to an underhanded trick.

"I won the moment you let me get there in the first place." Much like Weiss, and their late leader to a certain extent, she relied on proper battlefield setup but to an even more absurd degree. Let her set up her clones, let her plant explosives, knife traps, smoke bombs, pitfalls, flash bangs, claymores, tripwires, and she could tear apart an army before they even knew they were under attack. "I don't fight in the open Weiss, but you wouldn't know since guerilla warfare wasn't ever your forte."

Weiss bit back the forming insult, Yang understanding she wanted to say something, anything about the type of fighting Blake had learned from the White Fang and later applied to their own forces. "We did what we were good at, and I happened to be good at paperwork. Besides, the dirty work is for peasants below me. I was the heiress to the SDC at the time."

Blake reached over and slapped her upside the head, a familiar and warm smile gracing her lips. Yang almost stopped her, fearing she'd have to break up a cat fight, until the absurd notion of calling it a cat fight short-circuited her brain when she remembered Blake was a Faunus and had sexy and very sharp claws ready to carve lines of red into her back.

She wiped away a line of drool threatening to fall from her chin, but not before both of her friends saw it. "What?"

"You got that weird far away look whenever you're imagining sexy things." Weiss poked her on her arm, grinning all knowingly, silently asking for any information to later use as blackmail against Yang's impressive video blackmail of essentially everything. She'd literally take scraps just to even them out.

"I thought maybe Blake would've been a bit more sour and thought I'd have to break up a cat fight." Blake groaned at the confession, her feline ears clamping down to lay limply against her hair. Weiss let loose a short laugh at her expense. "But then the usual sexiness associated with her Faunus heritage took over."

A more irritated groan escaped from Blake's throat but whether this was from the unusual continued use of her voice or because Yang had committed a grave blunder was unknown.

"C'mon, you know she doesn't like it when we objectify her trivial additions." Weiss leant over Yang this time and pulled Blake from her chair to lay partly on their bed, her upper half stretched across Yang's legs. She almost protested the manhandling until Yang started molesting her ears, sending pleasurable goosebumps rippling across her skin.

"She only complains when other people objectify her. She loves it when we do." Blake blew a spare hair from her face away, chin resting limply on the duvet as the two had their way with her. Try as she might her purring wouldn't go away, coming out in broken and off-tune sequences, her struggle coming out in pitiful whimpers.

"That's because we love her for who she is, not what she is, but those sexy additions certainly help out." Yang grabbed one of her hands and inspected the sharp claws she had in place of nails, knowing her feet also had similar deviations from the humanoid norm. "Oh stop struggling. We know you love it."

She lay limply after that, accepting the attention they were giving her.

"This leader thing is easy. All Blake here needs is head scratches and you just need sex." Weiss froze when Yang mentioned her new role, interrupted in fondling Blake's ears. That gnawing ball of grief within Yang's chest resurfaced, hidden away, pushed down but not forgotten.

"You do realize your title of leader is purely ceremonial, right?" Weiss amended, caressing Yang's cheek fondly and then lightly slapping it. "On paper, you might be the leader but we all knew this was a democracy from the start."

"Well, thanks for the vote of confidence." The ball of fear in her chest abated, the burden of leadership no longer a daunting and insurmountable goal but a collective problem they'd all work through. Sure their former leader had had it all down pat, trained from a young age to not only lead a team but Beacon itself, but even she'd bowed to a decision made by her team.

Rare occurrences as they were but three heads usually trumped one. It totally had nothing to do with them having programmed their rehabilitated leader to ask for their opinions on dubiously moral missions and actually listen if one of them raised concerns.

She'd already made it clear those concerns had to be valid to even be raised, and if they weren't, to bury them deep enough for them to see the mission through. The ethical issues of not only essentially programming their leader to listen to them hadn't particularly raised any flags to them at the time, their worries resting with whether she could actually function and lead over the influence they could wield against her.

Besides, it wasn't like they'd passed Ethics 101 in the first place, the course having been listed for their second year of higher education. But then the Vytal Tournament had happened, Beacon had been nearly leveled, and they'd suddenly found themselves on the frontlines of a war. Their first Ozpin had neglected to tell them that that'd been a secondary function of the team in case of a conflict.

Wasn't every day they learned they'd been put together as a team of human nukes. The political power hadn't escaped Weiss or Blake, but the exponential growth they'd showed both during Beacon and the Second Great War had terrified them. Their leader had chosen to use her power for good, taking it upon herself to protect those who lacked power.

Yang had chosen not to comment on her fragile view of humanity, not when her empowered strength could level mountains and especially not when her Semblance had helped erase a country from the map.

She ruffled Weiss hair, mussing it up before throwing herself sideways from the bed, knowing she could expect quick and vicious retribution. Blake got somewhat bowled over in the process, getting thrown to the floor. Her content purrs turned in a growl, Rei happily joining in and treating the entire situation like a game.

As much as Weiss tried to not care about her appearance, touching her hair was a grave sin. Her own protectiveness over her hair had transferred over, the heiress quite possessive over what little hair she had left, despite readily following her leader's suggestion to cut it short those many years ago.

Blake joined in on the merry chase as she sprinted into the large bathroom, her laugh reaching back into the bedroom. The best benefit of having Weiss on the team wasn't exactly the money or the influence but her access to a huge walk-in shower equipped with a rain shower head.

It certainly didn't help she'd happily join any one of her teammates in there.

* * *

He hadn't seen Beacon so active since before his first retirement, bullheads hovering in the air just outside the campus and students moving around with a fervor. Every training arena he'd passed so far had been chock full of teams taking up every single available space, either engaged in personalized training or sparring with another team.

Any team not lucky enough was training in an arena was running laps around the campus or taking up any available lawn space and drilling in dynamic exercises. They knew better than to perform actual training on the perfectly manicured lawns lest Glynda come down on them with a vengeance.

Some of them might've fantasized being at the receiving end of Glynda's riding crop but he'd felt the end of it too many times to feel anything other than contempt. How James handled the closet dominatrix surprised him more than the relatively stable relationship between the two.

Winter had no particular kink and he was perfectly fine with that.

What was stranger were the whispers and stares directed at him and the silver emblem adorning his shoulder. Among senior Hunters he already received a large amount of respect for his work behind the scene, but he was getting attention from even the younger years, not because they'd suddenly been inducted into the deeper sects of the Hunters but because of the emblem he now wore.

They were too inquisitive for their own good, but keeping any sort of information from them was asking for trouble. Their late Commander's posthumous appointment hadn't helped at all, every Hunter within Beacon ransacking the public records for any and every piece of information regarding her.

And it was scary how much information they could research just from the paper records Ozpin had slowly declassified.

The CCTS tower loomed ahead of him, bustling with activity as some Hunters tried their luck with accessing the digital records held within. They'd find nothing but files locked behind passcode walls with tripwires designed to immediately destroy anything accessed without authorization.

Ozpin, unusually, wasn't scurried away on top of his ivory tower, claiming a section of the wide staircase leading up to the lobby. A few students tried to get his attention with polite greetings, getting nothing in reply but disinterested grunts and half-assed waves back.

He sat down next to him, unclipping Harbinger from his back and placing it between his feet, idly spinning the sword while inspecting the edge. They sat in companionable silence, the Commander and Headmaster garnering attention. They paid it no heed, the former more interested in his own thoughts and blade and the latter lost in paperwork.

"Do you know why the Headmaster and Commander roles were once one and the same?" Ozpin asked, not even bothering to look up from his scroll. Most wouldn't even know they were once interdependent titles, the Headmaster taking assumed control over Beacon as the Hunters and Academy.

"There wasn't a need for them after the Great War, the treaty dictating the High Commanders of the time be wiped from history and the role of Commander rolled up into the title of Headmaster, barring any further conflicts."

"Yet the other three city-states have established systems to get around it, James holding both the position of Headmaster and General, Vacuo still clinging to their pre-War titles of Shadow as fractured as they may be, and Mistral holding its dueling circuits to crown Champions."

"Then why haven't we?"

"Power resides where men believe it resides. No more and no less." He lifted his cane from the ground, inspecting the gears that made up the personalized handle. A rotation of a smaller gear released a locking mechanism, a thin blade appearing from within the cane's body. "After the war, the ruling bodies became fearful of Vale's power, the legend of our warrior king growing. You see, they believed we held power and exercised their right to ignore the treaty guideline, creating alternate names for Hunters ready to on a military role whenever a need arose." His blade snapped back into place with satisfaction. "Much like James, my successor was ready for both of the roles but Summer was killed and then her daughter was rendered incapable."

"Then why separate them now?" He kept his thoughts about Neo silent for now.

"Because I saw the toll it took on the 4th." Qrow snapped his thoughts shut, recalling her psychological report. "Two years fighting, two years leading, and she'd only completed her first year at Beacon. Her world got lucky with her, but she paid the price in the end, losing her sanity and dying to her team."

"So you're hope resided on giving a clinically diagnosed psychopath unparalleled control over the bulk of the Hunters while you administered the Academy, sixteen years after Summer was killed by one of your known associates." Qrow deadpanned, absentmindedly picking at one of the gears in control of the mechashift for his weapon. The implication wasn't the large gap between his successors, but the similarities between the two and their connection to Neo.

"Glynda?" He let loose a resigned sigh, stowing his scroll for the time being.

"Wasn't hard to figure out after she caught me rifling through her known criminal history. She was immensely helpful after I told her about her connection to Summer's death and her possible connection to our recently deceased Commander." Qrow gave him a pointed look after that, daring him to counter the suspicious circumstances behind the latter's death. Easier to believe the mysterious demon plaguing his life had struck again than believe the terrible reality behind Prune.

"How goes the dissemination?"

"The students have no access to any digital file, yet the library section dedicated to former Headmasters and Commanders is overflowing. The archivists are unable to keep up with demand for her documents, constantly having to make sure nothing can get out into the greater public." He replied without a missing a beat. "There's this underlying sense of her grandeur and larger-than-life nature even from senior Hunters with her stellar mission record and almost completely classified file."

"They're going to want more, I know. Most of the files I don't even dare digitize but that leaves an obvious gap in most of her record. Even sealing them to the highest degree in the archives does nothing to abate suspicion, Hunter missions supposedly only dealing with Grimm and nothing else."

"There's also been a spike in searches related to the Commanders of the Great War, and with Menagerie's unedited history of the conflict set to come online during Vytal Tournament, we can expect even greater scrutiny from every Council."

"Yes, and it'll bring into question the recorded history kept by the Council, a history we happily keep archived within our library if only so we don't forget the price the first Four paid for the peace we all live in now."

"And so she planned the Lucifer Protocols, the be-all and end-all solution." Qrow rested his forehead against the flat of Harbinger, the cool leather helping soothe the brewing headache. "Surprised you didn't have me extend it to the rest of the team."

"I might be old, but I don't have a death wish. They'd be forced to deny it lest Menagerie and the SDC come down on the Hunters as a whole and reduce their operational standards, ruining everything she worked and died for. And as long as the Protocols only affect her I still have some measure of control over the team." Qrow nodded along blankly, this conversation making him truly hate the secrecy of his job and the actions he had to take.

"Do you really want to get into a blackmail war with the Hunters ready to gut the Council, the Hunters who control a significant portion of propaganda affecting the Faunus, the princesses of Menagerie, and successors to the SDC?" Ozpin tried not to let their many titles and accomplishments get to him, his face set in stone. "You don't have to control them. She trained them better than that."

"That's exactly why I need to have something, anything, on them. I've been on this planet too long to know what unchecked power does to people. I've read how they could've blown their Remnant to shreds with only the innocent people living on it stopping them." Ozpin shut his coming argument without a break in talking. "What happens when they suddenly decide what the 'greater good' is and start acting as judge, jury, and executioner to a greater scope of the population."

Qrow silently added 'more so than they already do' to the end of the sentence, more than aware of the vendetta RWBY possessed against the four city-states' governments and the White Fang. True, the Hunter factions and their respective governments didn't have the best working history, but that exact tentative trust is what kept them working together. "Have you tried talking to them?"

Ozpin blinked at him owlishly and Qrow felt intimately insulted. "These are trained soldiers, used to taking orders from one person and one person only, breed with such loyalty they killed their own leader because she asked them to. We actually have a word for them: fanatics."

He snorted derisively but didn't refute the statement. "The best thing you can do for them is transfer them to Menagerie as teachers for a decade." Ozpin grunted, the universal noise for him to continue while having nothing to say. "She must've wanted them to go anyway with how much she invested in building the country up."

"Do you think there's any chance they could ever be Hunters again?" Oz asked rhetorically, not expecting a real answer anytime soon. "They're still good people, and that's why they won't turn blind eyes to injustice. I can't chance them teaching their legacy to a new generation."

"My daughter once told me if she had the power to change the world for the better, she'd be a worse person if she didn't at least try. It wouldn't surprise me if all of them subscribed to the same ideology. No one said war was easy."

"War is easy. It's the aftermath we're dealing with right now. I have Hunters who deal with PTSD from the higher rated missions, and we have three of them with unheard of records itching for a fight because they believe in their cause."

"It poses a philosophical question to the real difference between the Fang and them, doesn't it?" He reached for the flask in his back pocket and stared at it for a while, not yet partaking of the distilled liquid. "Both believe in their causes where both want the same thing in the end, yet we support one of the other because they are a part of us."

"The difference is the Fang wants to cause war and strife to pave the way towards ideological disequilibrium, and the team wants peace because they're frankly tired of fighting their shadow war. I have no doubt they'll see it to the end, but I fear what they may become in the process."

"Then how do we take the 'war' out of them? They'll never listen to you, not with their leader gone and the antagonism she displayed."

"We can't." Oz dragged a hand down his face, his brown eyes aging decades in the span of a second. "The moment they leave the environment of an active war is the moment they lose themselves and the PTSD sets up. It's been over four years of conflict for them and they've changed, losing their leader in the near end. What'd do you think will happen to them?"

"Insanity, depression, alcoholism, just to name a few." Qrow put his flask away much to the surprise of Oz, not having even toyed with the cap. "Burn them and they continue acting, transfer them and they do the same. Let them teach and you risk trauma. Give them a district and they'll go stir-crazy. Enroll them back at Beacon and they wouldn't know what to do with themselves."

"I don't know what do with them. As far as I know they'll just retire, but a retired Hunter runs into the same problems. You eventually came back to Beacon, Tai went on to develop Signal, and even Raven remained active in Vacuo's political and military scene. It's like trying to take the 'Hunt' out of a 'Hunter'."

"Well, that doesn't make sense. You'd just be left with 'er' and that doesn't make any sense."

"I hate you made me smile at that." A comfortable silence descended around them, both of them agreeing to put the subject to rest. The campus continued as normal, a hive of training Hunters and docking Bullheads. Already they had Vytal Tournament provisions and equipment being moved her, despite Amity Coliseum awaiting cleaning, still in storage.

"Remember when we were just Hunters and missions were simply 'find the nest and destroy it' or 'defend the district'?" Ozpin nodded, letting the hustle and bustle all around wash over them. "Ignorance is bliss as all I do with my day is exploit and gather in the great cog that is politics."

"Someone has to do it. Most here don't even realize the scope the upper echelons of Hunters have to go through, still stuck in their naive dreams of hunting monsters and gaining glory. For most it's enough, but for us, for those with a greater need or purpose, we find a niche to fill. Tai for teaching, Raven and the 4th for leading, you and Blake for analyzing. The list goes on and grows as we learn. After the last conflict, can you truly say your role hasn't helped?"

"Then cheers to the Lucifer Protocols, for the burden some must take and the path some must walk can never see the light of day."

* * *

She wasn't in the mood for this.

Again, probably for the third time in this year alone, she stepped through the purple-ish portal in front of her and braced for the tingling feeling of having her atoms ripped apart and sent to a pocket dimension. It was odd how she could maintain coherent thought while technically not having a brain, but if the mystery didn't involve gratuitous violence or copious amounts of ice-cream then it really wasn't for her.

Her own teleportation method was superior with the only drawback being the sheer amount of mirrors her Aura created as a byproduct but she couldn't hop dimensions, at least, not yet.

Coming back together always left a metallic taste in her mouth along with the feeling her spine wasn't properly aligned. It came with the requisite shiver making her dance awkwardly to try and shake them away. Salem tried not to look amused at her antics, her usual minions thinking they were too good for the weird feeling and forcing themselves to always be professional.

She took the seat to Salem's immediate right before anyone else dared make a move for it, everyone else arriving at similar times. Watts tried hard not to let the teleportation get to him, masking his discomfort by clearing his throat. Rainart's Semblance was out in full blast, the minuscule amount of pain getting blocked by instinct.

And Cinder, well, Cinder had no compunction of letting the dimension travel side effects show, her face already unhealthy pale as she rematerialized at the other end of the table. Mercury and Emerald were by her side looking worried, not entirely sure why she looked so shaken but Neo had more than enough clues to know why.

Adam, as always, looked annoyed and she really couldn't fault him, both of them finding these meetings tedious. He was also probably more annoyed at Blake and her team's shenanigans than what she was annoyed at but to each his own.

Her large chair wasn't the most relaxing, having been hewn from some type of bone and then lashed together. Salem's chair was the only one for actual cushions on it and if that wasn't a power move then she didn't know what could be. Her parasol did little to soothe her aggravation, the delicate designs on it barely able to withstand her ire.

She made a motion with her hand to get this meeting moving forward much to her co-worker's dismayed shock and trepidation. She had better things to do, like plot the downfall of governments and the theft of invaluable jewels. Of course, all that took a back seat to spending a few hours in insincere contemplation and mourning for the loss of her friend and equal.

Salem looked at her with narrowed eyes but it wasn't ire coalescing in her vermilion pupils. The collective room held their breaths as they waited for her to obliterate Neo from existence, unimaginable power held coiled at her fingertips. Neo met her gaze evenly, a playful smile gracing her face as her eyes swirled a myriad of colors, flickering between a haunting black and a radiant silver, her usual pink getting mixed up in between.

"You're in a particularly happy mood." Salem's eyes traveled down Neo's form until she reached her chest and cocked her head. Neo's smile brightened as the black cracks adorning Salem's face pulsed a deep purple before ebbing back into their passive state. A solitary Seer Grimm floated into the room from behind her chair, carrying a bottle of red between its long feelers. It tried to pull the cork out but its tentacles were not dextrous, Salem eventually taking the bottle and helping out. "Drink?"

The Seer chimed dejectedly with its glowing spherical head beeping a warm amber and floated back out the room. Neo declined with a shake of her head, a bowl of ice-cream appearing from nowhere. Let the peons figure out it wasn't actually real and had the suffer greatly for torturing herself with an image she couldn't eat.

She took out her scroll and opened up her communication app, typing out to ask why they were here and whether she could leave.

"No. I have another matter to speak with you after this, alone." Salem brokered no argument, Neo pouting but resigned to her fate of being stuck in this desolate and unhappy realm until she decided to let her go. She bit back the snarky comment about keeping her minions there against their will like a dominatrix since it deprived them of any form of consent. Technically everyone, including her, had consented the moment they walked into their respective portals but that was dubious enough to leave any court spinning on its head.

Not that Salem would allow a court to sentence her.

"You're here to be informed about a new development, one intimately connected to our planned invasion of Beacon and no, Cinder, you have nothing to do with this so please stop imitating a blank canvas and lighten up." Cinder tried not to let Salem's flippant attitude get to her and tried to put on a shaky smile, a bit of warm creeping back into her cheeks. "Beacon's 4th Commander is dead."

No one knew exactly how to respond to that, sharing uncertain looks between each other and daring someone else to speak first. "That is a good thing, no, my Queen?" Watts asked first after it was clear no one would try, sitting confidently with his fingers steepled. Years of reading body language meant he wasn't actually confident but was trying for everyone's sake. Kudos to him for actually trying but even he was shaken by having Salem speak and act in more casual terms.

It must've been so out of the norm for them, Salem trying to get the cork freed from the bottle of wine without a proper corkscrew. For all her famed power and enigmatic image she was being put to shame by a human invention meant to stopper liquid. Dead useless cork was: flexible, lightweight, shock and sound absorbent, and hilarious for throwing at people, always making a satisfying plink when it bounced off someone's forehead.

Finding a measure of pity for the Goddess somewhere deep in her heart, she took the wine bottle off her hands and inspected it condescending. The table's occupants didn't know what to do, shuffling in their seats, awkwardly coughing, or wringing their hands as Neo took the tip of her parasol and started prying at the cork, gently working it until she could grab it with her teeth and squeakily pull it out, a bit of wine spilling on her favorite white blazer.

She took a sip of the smooth red, raspberry, caramel, and chocolate dancing on her tongue before she handed it over. Seriously, was everyone else ever going to stop staring at their antics and learn to relax every once in a while or would they always have sticks perpetually shoved up their asses? It was still a wonder they hadn't asked why she was part of these meetings but they respected and feared Salem enough to not question it.

"It should be as it deprives Beacon of both a leader and S-rank but it's prompted the Academy to sharpen up its training regime. They should reopen their campus to the greater public once the Vytal Tournament starts, but for now, it's almost impossible to get anywhere near there without setting off alarms." She took a long drink and stared everyone down. Watts didn't look at all concerned, his computer virus not suffering anything with this development. Cinder and her crew looked more worried, being tasked with masquerading as competing Shade students and blending in during the opening ball. "Her teammates, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao-Long, all rumored S-ranks, have disappeared but are predicted to return and either compete in or protect the Coliseum. Any further information is locked and inaccessible as the entire Hunter communications network has locked down."

"Do they expect an attack during the Tournament or is this just a response to her death?" Cinder broached the subject, finding her voice after making sure Salem wouldn't obliterate her for some perceived slight. Honestly, she was worried the wrong person coming after her, her task having been the find a Maiden, completed, and observed the 4th, whose death was in no way her fault.

"My first instinct is the latter." Neo got a taste of a stink eye, Salem no doubt wondering if she'd said anything to Ozpin or given away information to her newest obsession, having asked during their last meeting to spare a Silvereye despite the rift between the two sibling gods.

What? She was allowed to have obsessions, especially if they took on a form with gorgeous silver eyes and mangled souls.

She was allowed to have a hobby, dammit!

"But I'll still be assigning you a greater number of Grimm for the assault on the Academy. With their forces already split, Cinder will be able to finish her mission. The Fang will further distract any reacting forces and I'll bring down the CCTS tower." Each member was only aware of individual assignment as a whole and nothing really specific.

What had Cinder already accomplished and why and what was her mission? How would Salem destroy one of the largest and most protected buildings on Remnant without violating her own non-interfering rules? And why was the Fang even participating in this? That was the only thing missing from this equation because she still couldn't figure out what their play here was other than serving as cannon fodder.

Adam was surely smart enough to realize they really weren't anything more than foot soldiers in Salem's army, even with a few screws loose. Was it some form of vengeance against Blake cause this was sacrificing a humongous amount of personnel for nothing. Back in their first (second?) dimension she had thought it had to do with taking the CCTS system down but she couldn't figure out why.

Sure it was the backbone of the global internet and served a critical function in both civilian and military communications and also facilitated political discussion between Council, which eventually led to the Remnant's Second Great War because of Watt's droid virus but it still didn't accomplish anything for them.

A global war might've caused instability across it but it was more likely to backfire on everyone rather than have them rush forward their legislation. Humans were so eager for war and thought it was the answer to everything. At least in the case of a little known country wiped from the map during the Atomic Wars called America. Those pea-brained idiots thought everything could be solved with guns and explosives when everyone knew the answer to everything was stabbing it with a rapier.

Her rapier specifically.

Hey, if the Fang wanted to provide her some entertainment to _accidentally_ kill during the ensuing clusterfuck then she wasn't going to speak up.

Cause she couldn't. ;)

"Shouldn't we be searching for whoever was responsible for taking out an S-rank?" Neo was pleasantly amused to discover Adam had a functioning brain able to think of more than just revenge and could ask a very relevant question. Ozpin was probably under fire from his subordinates trying to explain how one S-rank could die when surrounded by three others but Salem didn't have anything to explain.

"Neo?" The girl was shockingly surprised at being called to answer any sort of question, her unofficial status as spymaster for the faction coming into play. Her ice-cream disappeared in a shower of mirror shards as her scroll reappeared in the next moment. Of course, she knew the nature of the death in question and was actively struggling not to go and stab Yang until she apologized but she also knew it was coming.

Ozpin had been completely wasted when she'd asked him and wasn't thinking about operational security.

 _Her death was suicide by teammates due to her failing mental capabilities. Any and all information related to her death is sealed to the highest level available._ Salem read out with an unbelieving tone, arching an eyebrow with her deathly pallor abating for a moment, her fearsome illusion dropping in intensity. "You're telling me she was _killed_ , by her own teammates? How do you even know this?"

 _I walked into Beacon and asked Ozpin._ Salem was more than aware of her Semblance could mask her however she wished but even she'd struggle to replicate her look of dismayed WTF expression, especially with the comically twitching vein on her forehead. This comment wasn't even read out loud because she was too busy trying not to slap her.

"You know what? All of you, out!" Everyone but Neo got instantly teleported away in purple portals, the chairs disappearing with them. Let them debate whether she was dead or not until she made her debut at the Vytal Festival and fucked everyone over. If she was anyone else then maybe she needed to be afraid of Salem going all full-on goddess on her ass but she was a sneaky girl and could high in this hell dimension forever.

As boring as that may have been.

Oh wait, nevermind, food and water were things she needed.

Blasted mortality.

Why the fuck did neither Oz or Sal need food when they could sling reality bending bullshit but she had to go and crave delicious fried food? She was older and smarter than both of them combined but did they have to suffer through hunger pains? No, cause fuck logic.

"What do you mean you _asked_ Ozpin?" Neo shrugged and went back to eating her ice-cream, the stained glass windows shattering from a bout of unrestrained anger. Hundreds of Grimm wailed in agony as they sensed their mother's hostility and began the flee the direct vicinity of the castle. "And tell me why you have her _soul_ riding around in your body. You shouldn't have to ability to mess with primeval forces."

 _Death owes me a favor._ She could communicate telepathically now that they were alone, Neo reaching towards the immortal's consciousness and snagging a stray tendril of thought.

"What do you mean 'Death' owes you a favor?" Salem grasped the wine bottle was an unsteady hand. "Death isn't a person, it's a process, a concept, an idea. Everyone, even me in the end will die and my soul will traverse into the great unknown."

 _It was a joke._ Neo resisted the urge to facepalm, her ice-cream returning in facsimile of headache relief. _I simply snagged her soul before she could pass on._

"But how? You're just a human." Neo refused to answer that one, a devilish smirk cracking open and revealing blindingly white and sharpened teeth. She was gone in the blink of an eye, her form shattering in her trademark explosion and leaving mirror fragments scattered around the meeting hall.

Salem could suddenly appreciate the growing number of alcoholics in the world.

* * *

Weiss was in a considerably better mood after coming out of an exhaustingly hot shower, wet hair plastered to her face and making a funny grey clinging hat where it didn't randomly jut out in cowlicks Yang put there to screw with her.

Her mood had absolutely nothing to do with Blake possessing a rough tongue equivalent to sandpaper, containing backward-facing barbs.

Nothing at all.

* * *

 **AN:** Kudos to anyone who noticed I didn't use the 4th's name even once during this chapter. And apologies this chapter took so long to release. Went through finals and then had writer's block so here ya guys go, late, but still released. Hope you enjoyed and lemme know what you think.


	27. Identities

Chapter Twenty-Seven

* * *

 **Identities**

* * *

The nightmares were the hardest part to work through.

Each of them had their ways of dealing with them: Yang shuttling off to the hangar to finish up Serenity and Weiss locking herself in her study and staring at spreadsheets. She didn't have the luxury of sinking into her favorite pastime, the Castle lacking the resources needed for her to people-watch.

She could always go and stalk people across the interwebs or bother her many informants for information but they were sometimes so entirely professional in their work it was akin to reading a piece of legislature that everyone wanted to pass but had to go over in fear of someone sneaking in a rider or fudging a term somewhere.

One of the clones she had active control over blew up cataclysmically in a starburst of Fire Dust, rose petals erupting around the epicenter and flying into the walls, ceiling, and floor, the usual soft constructs getting propelled by Ruby's Semblance and turning into lethal shrapnel. Three Semblances in one had been the best she could do so far, unable to place the remaining fourth anywhere.

Each of their Semblances brought something unique to the table: Weiss with her control glyphs, Yang with her volatility and energy redirection (read explosions), Ruby with her absurd speed, and her with her clones, but combining them all was difficult.

Already she'd managed to get the hang of the basics behind Weiss's Semblance, not finding a particular use for it apart from unraveling the complex fractals she built within them or making small ones for wielding. Yang's was great for making devastating suicide clones, and Ruby's was great for positioning and surprise tactics, but Weiss' Semblance didn't play along with her own.

Weiss could use Yang's to make her glyphs both explode and use her kinetic redirection property to self-enforce barriers, further shooting her above each of them on paper. Ruby's Semblance came to life with her brainpower, Weiss becoming devastatingly omnipresent on the field, if she remembered to control it and not accidentally short-circuit.

She didn't need Blake's Semblance at that point, the only real benefit being discovered when she'd made a clone of a glyph by chance. It'd not only been weaker than her standard glyph but also couldn't be actively controlled, acting more like a standing wall, and couldn't be charged with Yang's Semblance once created. It was created almost instantly, making it perfect for distractions, but took more Aura than ten of her regular ones.

Blake's glyphs were entirely deep indigo in color, glowing with black light whenever she created one. While not understanding how Weiss could lock her glyphs in real space to create platforms or immovable walls, she understood enough to create the impossibly thin but stupidly strong ones in her hand to throw at people. And she could also line any of her blades with them, turning her already sharp edges into surgical grade with the strength of tanks behind them.

She theorized they could cut through even Yang's densely packed shields, giving her another edge on top of the psychological warfare she could wield with her pseudo-Ruby clones but black contacts and a crimson wig could only go so far. It was her way of keeping the two former SS ranks humble, still able to bounce their asses across the walls and smack them hard given they'd just assimilated three Semblances.

Her training room lay in shambles, the repurposed storeroom looking more like a ballistics testing facility with glyph throwing stars embedded in the wall, scorch marks everywhere, and her black rose petals strewn in every which direction. This was her method of coping, absolutely destroying her room and wasting her now colossal Aura pool on frivolous needs.

It left her powerless enough to have to ignore the urge to travel down into Atlas proper to find the nearest Fang base and kindly turn in the grunts to the police while making any officers disappear somewhere into the Atlesean Sea. Some of the grunts she could convert into her own minions, sending them off to Menagerie with the next shipment of components for the CCTS.

This drained feeling left her melancholy, in an awkward way. Not angry Ruby was gone or at the consequences eventually leading her to die at their hands. Not angry at Weiss for failing to trap her, Ruby pulling off the same trick with dismantling glyphs at just a touch, nor at Yang for putting an arm through her chest. No… there was a seething ball of receding vengeance just waiting to be unleashed on the Fang come the Vytal Tournament.

Rei did come in handy more than a large plushy.

Sleep became a chore despite having Weiss, Yang, and Rei there to chase the nightmares away, the little Grimm not being so little anymore. The constant streams of negative emotions and turmoil fueled her growth from her usual puppy form into the great heaping wolf she was generally found in now.

Any more growth and she wouldn't fit on the bed let alone through the doorway.

Yang had the worst of the nightmares, plaguing her even during the daytime, her clones informing her she spent countless minutes trapped in the showers not enjoying the hot water but scraping away at the imaginary blood caking her arm until it bled raw. She didn't even try to hide the effects they were having on her, not afraid in the slightest for the two of them to see what she was going through.

It was a far cry better than when she'd originally feared Yang would take her own arm off and replace it with a familiar gunmetal prosthetic, but Ruby's sacrifice kept her in check, their miraculous healing fostering their continued growth. Though their bodies required retraining, their minds were both their greatest and most vulnerable asset, the intelligence of their past experiences granting them foresight, but their attachment to Ruby crippling them emotionally.

They were still the same military force they'd always been, Ruby's resolve keeping them functioning as the same unit that'd fought through the Second Great War. Weakened, sure, broken, not yet, but holding up and believing in what she had wanted to accomplish. She knew she'd see it to the bitter end, but she also knew she didn't have a purpose past that, everything she'd worked for leading to the culmination of the Vytal Festival.

Each of them had lived because Ruby had kicked their asses into gear at Beacon those many years ago, tearing down their barriers until they worked, slept, functioned, loved, and killed as one unit, one team, one large and dysfunctional family. And now the driving motor was gone, leaving behind three perfect gears with nothing to drive them but the impetus of a plan.

She'd be dead inside by the time the Vytal Tournament and the subsequent battle ended, but Remnant would hear her roar her fury to those standing in the way between her and Ruby's final designs.

* * *

Ruby's history read like a fantasy, all the way from her entrance exam of slaying a Nevermore to her eventual suicide at the hands of her team. With what little Yang had submitted in the form of paperwork, he knew Ruby was lucky to have broken down in the middle of the Vacuoan desert, her report describing S-rank abilities getting flung around with ease with almost no consideration for conservation of strength or Aura.

Images from a reconnaissance mission into the area revealed enormous craters amidst the eastern dunes bordering Vale's redwood forests, gouged deep enough to reach the clay underneath. Thousands of cubic meters of sand lay displayed around the craters, the prevailing winds not yet having blown them over to return the landscape back to its ever-shifting original.

Most of the damage was accredited to Yang's volatile Aura but some of them had distinctive trenches only thrown bodies could have caused, any of the girls reportedly capable of slinging hundreds of kilo given their official rank. And further within the report was the presence of glass shards, the incredible heat of the battle flash heating the silica.

But nowhere within was there any mention of Ruby's body or even any blood as might've been expected from a calamitous and lethal S-ranked battle. Despite Yang signing off her body had been reduced to less than ashes he still found it hard to believe his little girl was gone. Qrow might've been her biological father but he was the one who raised her.

Yang having dealt the final blow was harder to believe, but Ozpin had assured him how utterly broken she had been when first presenting herself to his office during a stormy night those many weeks ago. Her, and her team, then disappearing left more questions than answers and not even having Qrow on his team did anything to help him, the man either shielding them or unable to find them.

He had his own guesses, placing them either at Blake's childhood home in Menagerie or in the great empty castle of Weiss' home back in Atlas, both locations where Qrow had limited information access bar Winter, who probably wouldn't give anything due to familial loyalty, and the isolation of the Faunus island left no technological entrance to gain anything.

Rumors they were constructing their own CCTS Tower were whispered amongst the upper echelons of Beacon's information network, stories of a new era of cooperation between the SDC and Menagerie stemming from Weiss and Blake's placement together.

Those were the nicer of the rumors concerning any and everything concerning the team. The younger years had the nicest things to say about them, referring to them both with awe at Ruby's status both as an S-rank and their Commander. A few of them had speculations both at the clandestine nature of the records and how they were just a cover-up for another team.

It was a fair assumption given the almost unbelievable reality of having an appointed Commander but Weiss and Blake's placement together could've served as a smokescreen given the controversy even within their own community. He knew the Faunus-human rift did actually exist and it affected the early years until they were broken from their ridiculous notions.

There was a reason students with known dislike were either placed on a team with one or made to work with Faunus teammates from other teams, or else risk failing an assignment or worse, letting a teammate die.

The rumors from the older Beacon students, graduates, and veterans had more stock than the blown-up ones from the younger years, if only because they knew reality versus fantasy, but these were even more shadowy and hushed up than locked files.

Those overseeing the entrance exams had noted the immense teamwork shown between all four of them, rumors starting of training begun long before Beacon. Those came with their own subsets, Blake either being a willing servant of the Schnee household or Weiss having been kidnapped as a child and raised as an equal to other Faunus.

Further along RWBY's timeline were the speculations behind the many missed classes and team-building exercises, many theorizing they had no need for Beacon and were all spies for the other four countries or the White Fang, or were all delinquents and only came to the Academy for the superior food and networking events with prodigies.

The Mountain Glenn rumors were the most vicious, the engineering division whispering they were the ones responsible for clearing out the monstrous infestation given the enormous influx of material arriving by SDC marked train or ship, correlated with the logistics division of course. That was where the previous rumors became unbounded and the legends grew, RWBY becoming the secret powerhouse behind Ozpin's reign.

Unbound by the conventional Hunter rules due to their frequent disappearances from the campus and almost non-existence in the public Hunter database, RWBY became mythical figures among their community, actors taking on the missions away from the public's eye for their betterment.

Most Hunters understood how Grimm were created, products of human negative emotions given corporeal form through an unknown process. RWBY became the team able to track down the darker sects of humanity's worst, never appearing to do any wrong because the public identities of Weiss and Blake were so solidly perfect.

Not even Ozpin had outright denied the team wasn't behind the death of Jacques Schnee, simply calling it untimely and letting him draw his own conclusions. The Hunters in the know of their abilities knew Blake had the perfect alibi and it wasn't too much of a stretch to assume she could also disguise her clones. Though the inner workings of the SDC remained hidden away from prying eyes, the financial division had highlighted discrepancies in policies and market practices, the sudden switch between public to private raising many eyebrows.

Their personal lives received no less scrutiny, their characters getting attacked from reasons ranging from petty jealousy to getting elevated due to Qrow's meddling. Blake became a feared assassin trained by the Fang but eventually defected due to their increasingly violent operations. Weiss became the team's tactician, resident genius, and willing benefactor, a silent partner to Menagerie's development. Yang became the public face of the team, so forgotten behind the wake of her other teammates she could happily integrate into politics while focusing on mechanical engineering.

And Ruby… Ruby became a nightmare: unseen, pragmatic, destructive, devastating, and imposing, the true power and force driving her team. Qrow had her wrapped in enough paradoxes and enigmas for some to believe she never really existed and was nothing more than a cover-up or political tool to wrest power from the Council, or a puppet for another hidden motive they couldn't fathom.

The worst rumors didn't have anything to do with their suspected covert op missions or to the veracity of their characters but to the relationships they kept with each other. He already knew Ruby had been married to Blake, as shocking that may have been to hear initially, but it was nothing compared to the rumors she was also in a relationship with not only Weiss but Yang of all people.

The time and dimension travel he could deal with, the arcane research institutes within the multiple Hunting Academies, flagship and intermediates, having theorized it possible. Nothing working had been made, mostly due to the backlash in radiation when traveling backwards or the walls of reality crashing around them from punching a hole across to another dimension.

He could deal with them also not telling him anything, Ruby's apparent status as a Commander demanding she keep familial relations separate from her duties towards the people she served. He could also accept they weren't who he initially first believed them to be, war changing them into older and more mature versions of themselves. His own escapade into the Faunus Rights Revolution had changed him after all.

But he couldn't accept, and really didn't want to contemplate or even hear, that Ruby was in any sort of relationship with Yang bar a platonically friendly one. He had raised them as sisters and nothing except for a cataclysmic event could shatter Yang's faith in her family, especially after Raven's abandonment.

Ruby was a psychopath, a product of years of bloody fighting and trauma, the usual human inhibitions cast aside in her ultimate pursuit of ending a war and making sure the five countries didn't implode with their militarists' itchy trigger fingers ready to defend their homelands or bring glory for inane reasons, but Yang wasn't psychologically damaged enough.

All of their psyche reports highlighted an almost fanatical devotion to Ruby, their entire lives built around answering to her first before even considering another authority figure. Considering her previous position it made sense they would never answer to anyone else, but with her gone, Ozpin's tenuous hold on them was essentially non-existent.

They could and would now have to operate as a democracy without Ruby's iron fist command and all indications from Monty presumed the team would only be able to function for a short duration before they imploded due to either a lack of decisive leadership leading to failure on the field or personality differences hidden beneath a previously overpowering rule.

He simply feared they'd rip apart Remnant in their quest for revenge against the Fang and in ushering a long-lasting peace with Menagerie's established rule. Not once did he consider they'd fall to depression or grief, knowing how headstrong all three of them were from reports. It only made their vendetta against the Fang all the more mysterious, the rather small terrorist organization hardly making a blip in anything more than violent protest and grand larceny.

RWBY's disproportionate response to reclaiming Mountain Glenn had vexed him, making him wonder why they hadn't captured all of them and handed them over before sealing the district in preparation for Beacon to expand into it, but both Ozpin and Qrow had clammed up instantly. He only knew they had provoked a war between the four countries, but that there were already plans in place to circumvent them.

A few hundred thousand in number, the Fang was a growing headache for Vale and the others, their decentralized and autonomous cells able to operate alone with little input from their hidden leaders, but they weren't enough of a headache for the Council to consider throwing their military at them.

From Monty's notes, Ruby was too pragmatic to throw needless funds and energy at corralling the Fang when Grimm posed a greater and more present threat. Even knowing what they were planning wasn't as worrying as he originally thought, their first war starting because of miscommunication and retribution rather than malice aforethought.

If Ozpin shared their concerns with James before the Tournament, and he knew he would, then it was even less of a concern, the technologically advanced Atlesian fleet of warships that were always present around Amity Coliseum able to provide an immense defensive screen against smaller strike craft.

Though why the Fang would ever agree to assault such a public event with innocent civilians when their primary goal still called for equality was questionable. It didn't take a large leap of logic to figure out they were being used by another greater entity for a more shady reason in return for either greater military power or support for their legislation.

Despite now being in the know of how the next Great War would begin, Qrow and Ozpin refused to let him know more than he already did, treating the entire situation with as much care as possible and either planning for defense or making overtures to cripple the Fang even further than Raven first believed.

She was still in this weird limbo with him where half the time he wanted to kiss her and the other half wanted to pound her into the ground, though those two things didn't have to be mutually exclusive. Weiss had sent him an annotated copy of the first _Icha Icha_ and while Raven couldn't have been happier, he finally learned how RWBY met and he really wanted to slap the older three.

Everything he knew about RWBY was all based on rumor and almost nothing he knew directly from them, the rest getting filled in with hearsay from Ozpin and Qrow. Only one other team was anywhere close to RWBY and locating them was frivolously easy and was one of the few things going right for him in these recent times.

Ozpin was definitely in on this, sending him their schedule and then ordering him to take them on an excursion. Alone it was overkill, especially if he could've taken both the entire first and second-year students along, but Ozpin was being his manipulative kind self and letting him trap JNPR between duty and interest.

Two of them were shooting him scandalous looks as an Airship ferried them from Beacon into the lower districts, his new orange book on display as he read through the various notes dotted around the margin. Most of the fluff was lost on him and the plot was paper-thin but they gave him a few ideas. The notes were the most important, brief insights from RWBY's strategist into Ruby's psyche, small anecdotes to her mannerisms, glimpses to her reasoning behind actions, and speculations to plans even hidden from her eyes.

It wasn't anything more than his two superiors had told him but the words were written in a familiar lit, speaking of Ruby like family, sister, or lover rather than as a subordinate or leader. Much like Ozpin, she wasn't afraid to criticize Ruby for her decisions, poking and prodding her in the correct direction or listening to her reasoning.

Mountain Glenn wasn't a decision made in a moment but a decision made years ago during their first war, after Beacon had been catastrophically destroyed. The Hunters had needed a base of operations and the old condemned district had suited them nicely, much like it had suited the Fang for their operation. Back then, the district signified hope after Beacon's fall with Qrow and Ruby fortifying it.

Now it was a bastion, Ozpin having happily taken Ruby's balanced budget and thrown everything and the kitchen sink at building it up, its defensive weaponry handed over to the SDC as a contract at a fair price. Considering the upheaval of the company, the contract allowed them to not only replenish their severely depleted funds but also unload stores of unused merchandise.

Dust extraction and refining was their primary purpose, but they'd been researchers and defense manufacturers when called upon, their near monopoly giving them much leeway to go into whichever industry they pleased and eat up any loss associated with any new endeavor. Weiss' notes spoke of a grand fortress meant for the cruelest of wars, protected underground with only one direct route into the districts proper.

Built so well that Ozpin wanted the first and second years to evacuate there during the Vytal battle proceedings while the higher years held onto the Academy and the graduates defended the districts. Weiss wanted it so easily built and operated after all.

Team JNPR followed after him with almost nothing grumbled between them, sharing nothing more than odd looks as he lead them from the docking port and deeper in the larger station, bypassing security checkpoints with swipes of his scroll. It only got worse when he took them into an elevator and they descended into the sub-basement level marked 'Super-Secret RWBY Project'.

Oh yeah, Ozpin was that blatant.

He cut them off with a well-timed glare and shuffled them into a waiting shuttle train a few cars long. The doors sealed with a pneumatic hiss and them another wall of curved glass sealed the train away from the station before they shot off into the deep darkness. This new rail system barely jostled the cabin on acceleration and settled into smooth travel once it leveled out.

He took a seat across the aisle from the four of them, finally putting Weiss notes away. It was a rather ingenious and efficient way of hiding information in his own opinion, but also entirely too crude. Anyone could pick up the book and stumble upon a veritable trove of blackmail and extortion, but that person would have to know where to look.

"I don't expect any of you to know who I am considering none of you attended Signal but my name is Taiyang Xiao-Long. I'm both the deputy headmaster to Signal and a member of Beacon's Command Team." The red-head Hunter, Pyrrha Nikos, if he had read their profile corrected visibly held back a question but let him continue without interruption. Strange how the daughter of Haven's Headmaster chose to come to Beacon rather than stay home. "And yes, I'm Ruby and Yang's dad."

"Ruby's uncle you mean." The question from the blond one, Jaune Arc, caught him for a moment before he remembered they were RWBY's sister team and were in the know about more basic information. "Ruby told us that a scruffy data analyst called Qrow was her dad."

He bit back a chuckle at the very apt description of his teammate.

"Qrow is my brother and yes, he's an insufferable and scruffy ass most of the time but he has his uses." He was the head of Beacon's information network and while he wanted nothing to do with Ozpin's political machinations and subversions with the military he couldn't really ignore they let the Hunters get away with much more than the Council believed.

Such as this convenient base, RWBY's suspected assassination of Jacques Schnee, their not-so-secret manipulations of resources to Menagerie, the implications of an alliance between the SDC, and the completely hidden shadow war they waged with the White Fang. Blake had so much influence over the Faunus around the world it was a surprise they hadn't wiped the organization from the planet and supplanted them entirely. They had enough details to land precise strikes from a naval fleet and still keep casualties to a minimum.

Though he could understand the need to crush all of them in an instant during the Festival rather than turning all of them into martyrs. Blake would reassert control of the organization or at least help their next leader assume control and Remnant could rest easy for a decade or two. War wasn't his forte and he really didn't do anything other than chastise Raven for her penchant for cruelty during the last one. The girl really had a problem and he'd never know why it turned him on.

"Now I came and dragged you out so I could ask you questions about team RWBY seeing as I haven't really seen or talked with them for close to a year, and some of the rumors surrounding the team concern me." They all glanced at the orange book to his side, making him raise his eyebrows at the blatant insinuation. The most sinister rumors must've been batted aside in favor of the risque ones they were more privy to. "What little I know comes from professional reports but as their sister team you can give me a more personal account."

The looks they all shared between themselves didn't bode well, their seating arrangements even more so. Pyrrha and Jaune were supposedly partners but one the team's other partner duo sat between them, the quiet and reserved Lie Ren. The orangette to Jaune's other side, Nora Valkyrie, was sending Lie nervous glances while fiddling with the hem of her skirt, almost like that hand was meant to be occupied with his. Psychologist he wasn't but accomplished taskmaster and training instructor he was, and the four of them were textbook definitions of conflicts.

"Team RWBY was... distant from us from everything except for training sessions -" Jaune began with his stilted report but Tai let him get no further, having read the reports of RWBY's Hunter life multiple times and finding their corroborations within Monty's dull reports.

"Vale's Hunters all know what Team RWBY was, rumored to be super-soldiers, assassins, researchers, commanders, under Ozpin's command but I came to you to figure out _who_ they were." He leaned forward and rested his chin on his hands, carefully looking each of them in their eyes. "You have to understand something. When Ruby and Yang left our home they were green Hunters with no understanding of how the world worked, and only now am I learning Ruby was our Commander, with the lot of them wrapped in secrets. Their professional lives aside, I no longer even know who they are. All I hear is rumors, that they were strong, legends and myths whispered about because Qrow and Ozpin have spread and encouraged them to make them so, even their characters and personalities getting distorted, so help me out here."

"Team RWBY didn't spend much time with us, leading us on training and spars with some help with classwork here and there. Most of the time they didn't attend classes or activities with none of the Professors batting an eye." Pyrrha took the lead this time, Jaune and Nora doing their best to avoid making eye contact with him. The earlier conflict began to grow deeper, RWBY now sitting cleanly as the reason between the team divide.

Jaune being so eager to talk first about RWBY's professional life pointed to the rift stemming from differences in the way they managed their personal lives, which was odd considering he really didn't want to think about his daughters leading elimination, assassination, and political missions. It certainly didn't help he knew they knew nothing concrete about RWBY's more insidious past, making whatever issue pretty controversial, especially given Mistral's nonchalant attitude to just about anything, Pyrrha getting raised in a much more open society than Vale's.

"So none of you know anything about the rumors Ruby was abusing her position as leader and forcing her teammates to do her schoolwork and sleep with her?" He kept his face perfectly straight during his lie, keeping eye contact with Pyrrha. Though Jaune was the official leader, he'd pegged her as the true one, having the edge in martial prowess and confidence. Jaune even looked to her ever so often just out of the corner of his eyes as if unsure of his own capabilities.

All of them looked suitably perturbed at that rumor, having definitely not heard that one just yet. They'd learn quickly how devious their superiors could be when they wanted to be. He could've simply asked, but more often than not he'd get half-assed answers or deflections if not outright lies because younger Hunters didn't yet have the unwavering faith their elders did.

That sounded really creepy now that he could wrap his head around it, asking them to trust completely but it wasn't like they weren't allowed to question or snoop around. Funny how he could rationalize a 'greater good' when he needed it to work within his world, but the system of checks and balances between the different echelons of Hunters theoretically worked, as well as a democratically-elected dictatorship could. He just needed to ply them for information in a different manner.

Now he was in danger of turning into a crow and he performed a cursory check of his hair only to confirm it wasn't turning black.

What he got from JNPR was a symphony of exclamations and denials as they all suddenly babbled over each other. It certainly reaffirmed his suspicions they knew more than the rest of the population but this strong of a reaction from all four of them meant they knew it was entirely false rather than just the quiet mulishness he half expected.

"Good, so tell me exactly what their relationship was." They were rather quick to order who was speaking after that, his blonde locks casting deep shadows over his eyes while he pressed his Aura against them. He probably didn't need to do any more than ask at this point, but it never hurt to let them know the lingering power from his active days was still there.

He tried his damnedest but his countenance shifted towards dread the more they spoke about their confrontation with RWBY a few weeks ago when the rift developed. The little voice in his head pleaded for patience, consoling him that he had no business in interfering or even knowing about their unorthodox relationship but the baser paternal instinct demanded he find out who was leading who on, struggling to fit in JNPR's encounter with his already shaken view of Ruby and Yang.

The flurry of noises abated as he looked within and squashed both his id and ego. The emotional aspects drained away and he was left staring at the facts. Ruby was a monster and Yang her little subordinate, and it wasn't his place to get in the way of anything. He wasn't their superior, despite his lofty position, and his status as their father didn't mean much apparently. Many children hid their relationships from their parents and he was only finding it out after one of them was dead.

That thought still made his heart skip a beat, the dull hammer of disbelief slamming in his chest and forcing a gnawing cold across his body. The edges of his seat creaked dangerously as his temperamental Aura lashed out under the loss of his emotions. JNPR simultaneously gulped as his eyes glowed a harrowing crimson in the deep-set dark of his skull.

They unknowingly let loose a collective breath as his Aura pressure abated until they were again looking at the wryly grinning Xiao-Long patriarch. It was only after he burst into near maniacal laughter they started to eye the emergency brake handle and seriously give consideration to pulling it and getting as far away as they could from him and wherever this train was taking them.

Nothing in the train station had revealed anything to where they were going and nothing on the train itself did either. It was easy for them to guess this train existed as a shuttle between two points, but none of them knew where it could've been going to that would've warranted their presence. Too young and inexperienced to be getting deployed, not briefing about a clearing mission, and not politically important enough to warrant a vacation to the Council House.

Tai eventually came down from his transcendent high and wiped a tear forming in the corner of his eye. Their train thankfully started to slow down with a scary quickness, no evidence of any brakes activating. Tai braced himself against the closest seat and drag himself into the aisle, a goofy grin plastered on his face. "Mmmhhhmmm," he looked them over with a quiet zeal gleaming in his eyes at their confessions, "Who am I to judge our great and fearsome Commander and her trio of dedicated Hunters?"

He'd love all of them equally, just as long as Ruby and Yang got the most. His daughters-in-law would have to split the remaining love available between the two of them.

JNPR quickly looked between themselves with disbelief, the man disappearing from their view behind the seats on his way to the car doors. Imposing much like any of the veteran Hunters skilled in their shared field, he had an almost tempered hinge on his sanity if the terrifying laugh was anything to go by.

He heard them stumble after him as the train slowed down to a crawl and he let the aisle hallway corridor support him. His first instinct was to override the door control and stick his head out for no real reason other than because he could but Weiss might not be too happy with him playing around with her needlessly expensive transport system. The travel out here was already many times quicker than any bullhead could achieve and he definitely wanted to play with it later.

"Welcome to Mountain Glenn." Tai turned his head to see their reactions, stepping out into the overloaded train platform. Pallets of different materials and even weapon systems lay scattered about with a few Hunters milling about with forklifts. A foreman spared just enough time to check on the new arrivals before getting back to checking his clipboard. "A once condemned district turned fortress by order of our Fourth Commander as part of her contribution to the Hunter forces."

JNPR nodded along warily, too taken in with the sights of the dozens of Hunters moving heavy machinery or welding secondary structural beams to the ceiling. Already there was a lattice-work of metal weaving around the cavern, additional plating being brought in to seal any skylights from above. They knew each Headmaster always gave the Hunter's some contribution: the First ending the Great War, the Second helping develop the CCTS, and Ozpin nurturing relations with Atlas after the Faunus Rights Revolution debacle. They hadn't been idle after that section of the library had been rediscovered.

Tai knew there were more projects behind the scenes for all of his former Commanders than just the solitary public ones, already made aware of the true mission within the abandoned district, on top of the heavily implied or straight-up confirmed other missions of dubious nature.

"What's the difference between a Commander and a Headmaster?" Pyrrha dodged up a swinging I-beam, smiling ruthlessly as Jaune walked straight into it and gained a prominent bump on his forehead. Tai filed away the interaction between them for analysis. Alone it spoke of friendship with a propensity for humor but her rapture leaned towards viciousness and not the former. Something had happened to shake her faith in her leader.

"A Commander is a position technically above the Headmaster and comes either from appointment by the former or an emergency election after his death. During the entirety of Vale's modern history, the Headmaster has acted as unofficial Commander, both in charge of Beacon as the first and the entirety of the Hunters as their leader. In times of war, the Headmaster title is dropped in lieu of the Commander title, but Ozpin has separated the two to better govern the sprawl the bureaucratic nightmare we've become, he taking control over Beacon, with our Fourth taking control over all of them." Most Hunters still quietly referred to Headmasters as their Commanders once out of the Academy.

"Then Ruby was technically Headmaster Ozpin's superior, not just her successor?" Ren asked for clarification, eyes roaming the many improvements getting mounted around him. With the speed everything was getting set-up and installed, the base would be operational within months if not weeks time.

"Don't refer to our Fourth by name in public, especially not within the compound she helped create. Not even I have the right to call her that and I'm her dad, and you four especially don't, not with the rift between you." He listened to their protest momentarily before drowning them out, eyes roving the busy scape looking for whoever was in charge, finding a familiar form looking over a table and walking over. "She caused this rift between you four for a reason, and none of you have figured this out."

He walked around the table and leaned on his arms, carefully inspecting the detailed schematic laid out over him. Other prints were devoted to the demolition of most of the buildings above them, the largest skyscrapers getting entirely demolished with the shorter ones being converted to bunkers. Mounted defenses dotted the perimeter at key chokepoints where the wall became a funnel with encampments around that. Further inland were what seemed entirely too many anti-aircraft artillery mounted on elevated platforms, their barrels brushing just over the many buildings they sat inside of, granting them unparalleled access to the skies above.

It frankly looked like a fortress designed to repel human infantry and aerial attacks rather than Grimm hordes.

"It took us a week to figure it out and we knew her for years." The woman across him returned easily. He couldn't remember if she'd spoken to him before when she was on patch, her voice rasping out of her rarely used vocal cords. Dry and scratchy with an almost warm undertone he couldn't quite place; yeah, he could hear why Ruby fell for her, though the reflective vest and glaringly bright hardhat did her no favors.

"Not the way I like to teach but then again, I didn't know her in the end." He removed his orange book from his pants pocket just enough to reveal its orange cover. She smiled a wide grin, revealing impossibly sharp canines, and tapped a claw rhythmically against the table, both pointing at a location within the underground complex and sending a message.

He nodded imperceptibly, sliding his book back into place.

"Blake!" The Faunus spared her sister team a small smile, fingering a new addition to her ensemble. The four of them recognized the black ribbon around her neck where it once upon a time hid a gruesome and debilitating wound but now served as a reminder of her loss. Blake looked over them for a few moments, head tilted ever so slightly as if she was confused why they were here before sinking back into her public mask, quickly looking at the date on her scroll.

They got a chill smile along with a wave for their troubles.

Cue the awkward silence with JNPR unable to think of anything to say, stuck in a thoughtless loop on the funeral a few weeks prior. Not one of them had seen or heard anything from the former Command Team until now and all of their questions seemed to disappear after finding one of them so casually sitting in Mountain Glenn, not even hiding.

Jaune got a frightening gaze when he tried to speak, her carefree eyes turning stone-cold amber and daring him to say anything. The rift between the team members and the two teams deepened and Tai couldn't help but be drawn in like the rare mystery novel he occasionally picked up.

"How've you been?" Ren didn't get so easily rebuked, Blake sparing him a fanged smiled before replying with a shake of her head, gesturing to a distance far off. Tai had enough experience with vague signals having dealt with a cagey Qrow and an even more eccentric Ozpin but Ren couldn't make heads or tails of her silent reply.

"Do you know anything about how they're doing?" He asked, again Blake replying with a negative, further confusing the entirety of the JNPR as they struggled to understand who 'they' would be in the conversation. "I can only assume she sent you here to monitor Glenn's construction?"

She nodded this time before gesturing to JNPR and flashing two distinct hand signs every veteran could recognize, Tai quietly putting Blake into a cardboard box labeled 'introvert' and throwing in a ball of yarn. She could technically shred the box, but he was backing on the toy taking enough of her attention to run very far away and throw catnip at her from behind a pillow fort.

Ruby would've wanted him to love her as his own, that much he could surmise.

He stifled a sob threatening to erupt from his throat, Blake shooting him a diminished look of pity to both get his act together and continue the conversation in her stead, seeing as she wasn't going to do any more than leave JNPR in the dark. "Yes, they're here to train and help finish the construction."

Another cryptic hand sign had him nodding softly, JNPR and the other first and second years getting permanently assigned the base up until the conclusion of the festivities and the coming battle to come. With what he'd seen getting put up in defense, any aerial assault would be shredded with any ground assault put down with slightly more difficulty.

He could already conclude Amity Coliseum would slowly traverse the skies towards the base and the Fang would them have the choice to either attack them or fall back. Ozpin and the Fourth either believed it to be enough of a target for the Fang to risk the assault, or were trying to leave Beacon undefended enough on paper to have them shift their attention there.

It certainly minimized risk to the innocent population if they could have the veritable fortress acting as ground support with the Atlesian armada hovering around the Arena acting as a screen for further incoming threats.

"Wait, we didn't get any orders from anyone," Jaune replied before Pyrrha elbowed him hard and sent him wheezing onto his knee, gesturing softly to both the teammate to their late Fourth and the present member of the current High Command. Tai mentally slammed his head into a table, the rift between the two coming out to physical conflict. Maybe the war regime would change them and they'd learn to live with each other or maybe they'd die in the ensuing chaos. "And who sent Blake here?"

"You really don't have any idea how they're doing?" Blake again shook her head, causing Tai to sigh sadly. "Not even when you report back to her? Nothing about what she's feeling, what their plans are, where they're going?"

"I was married to her for close to three years." She smiled kindly, refusing to smile any more than the action of creeping Tai out. A soft fire lit in her eyes, burning a cool orange against the speckled amber of her iris, the slit pupil returning to a more oval shape. She knew far more about her wife than she was letting on, more than even Ozpin knew he could conclude without a doubt. "I made my peace a long time ago."

"Have you, or is this your version of coping since you've been here alone all these weeks? Your own legend has kept you separate from almost everyone, and not even your own team is here? How often do your other clones fall victim to isolatio-?" A knife flew dangerously close to his neck, his passive shield unable to deflect the blade enough to prevent it from drawing blood. He could now believe her rumored prowess, the trickle down his neck evidence she would have skewered him if he didn't move at the last second.

He might've actually been dead if she threw it with any of the speed an S-rank should've been capable of.

His eyes widened when a growing pressure slammed into him and sent goosebumps soaring down his limbs. An unnatural cold seeped deep into his bones and he dared to look Blake in her eye, recoiling as the golden lasers stripped away his outer defenses and he was left staring into a deep and encroaching abyss.

The floodlights around their area flickered, the light within desperately clinging to life before getting smothered by the hampering void. JNPR collectively shuddered against the ball of malificance with Blake at its center, only identified by her now glowing irises. Black rose petals trailed after her form as she stepped towards him, floating softly to the ground and then exploding in flashes of light. His brain tried desperately to incorporate their very existence, but was too busy telling the rest of his body to avoid all eye contact and leave Glenn, never to return whilst this demon remained there.

His poor heart beat thunderously against his chest as she stepped forward and leaned up to whisper in his ear. "I suffered her therapy, I suffered her reign, and I suffered Remnant's fall with her by my side." Her steadily lowering voice barely grazed his eardrums, the unuse forcing it into less than a whisper. "She _was_ my everything, and I'll work past it because I _still_ have Yang and Weiss by my side."

The oppressive void receded from the immediate area, funneling back into her narrowed slits with the piercing amber morphing back into a warm hearth. His bones creaked and muscles finally relaxed once the Faunus returned from her power trip and pranced back over to her blueprint table, smiling infuriatingly as if nothing had happened.

She removed a scroll from her multi-purpose leg pouch and tapped away at a few buttons before putting it away, her smile turning coy. His own scroll beeped almost momentarily afterwards, JNPR's scrolls chiming just afterwards.

He read over the notification, blinking rapidly to make sure she hadn't done something so reckless. A few of the Hunters in the immediate vicinity also checked their scrolls and filed away their new orders, continuing on with their as if nothing had changed, almost like they had been expecting this.

"Mountain Glenn is yours, Lieutenant Commander Xiao-Long." He stared at her slack jawed as she exploded in a shower of black rose petals, thousands of them rocketing out from her and flying everywhere. Catching one of them only had it dissolve almost instantly in his hand, the fire Dust sparking energetically as he crushed it lightly.

A quick look around had a few of Blake's direct subordinates standing nearby, ready for his orders just in case they'd supersede any of hers. She'd waited for him here, knowing that he'd be the one to lead the first and second years here, Qrow slowly taking over for Ozpin and Raven having no temperament for children. And now she'd ensured he spent his time here instead of snooping through their history, leaving him with a duty to not only train the next generation but also oversee Ruby's project.

It wasn't like he didn't enjoy teaching, but it would've been nice to get asked rather than subtly forced into the position. And on top of all that, she'd baited him into meeting her later tonight, pointing out a storage warehouse with a time and nothing else, leaving him almost nothing to do until then.

What was it with crafty superiors and their innate need to be cryptic?

* * *

The drop in air speed woke her faster than the alerts bleeping from the radar. The trip across the Atlesian Sea and Anima had taken a scant couple hours after Yang had pressed into the upper atmosphere and switched to the liquid hydrogen propellant. The pressurized air in the cabin would've normally been too cold to sleep but a part of her now partitioned Aura core refused to let her stay anything less than comfortable.

Her eyelids sludged open from her cat nap in time for Weiss to douse the alerts and save any of Menagerie's jets from intercepting them, transmitting Blake's royal clearance and rapidly descending down into Kuo Kuana, locating the large mansion at the center of the sprawling metropolis.

The adjustable turbines spun up as the main hybrid engines shut off and _Ruby_ coasted down into the backyard of the Belladonna's, stirring up great dust storms around their landing site. The slight jostling as the ship settled broke her balance, her calf screaming in protest from the wounds from those weeks ago. The arm she braced up against the fuselage doors crumpled under her weight, a desperate cry tearing from her throat as she collapsed fetal onto the floor, the cool metal soothing the aggravated muscles.

The dull and aching pain had her moaning pathetically at her own weakness, her Aura pulsing dangerously under her slipping control, desperately seeking to rush down her channels and heal the tissue she let scar over as a reminder of the greatest mistake she'd ever made. If only she'd found her love earlier, thrown herself more earnestly into her search, wrote better information scrubbing algorithms, tortured her former comrades with more vigor.

She'd died in the end because she'd failed at the one job she'd been entrusted with, and now she was finally letting herself be punished for it.

Her own clones were more useful than her real body, immune to the usual mortal necessities. The only reason she'd come close to handling Weiss and Yang was because she fought dirty, accustomed to ambushing, assassinating, and harassing rather than fighting in pitched battles. Putting her real body on the line wasn't in her playbook and never was after she became experienced with her clones, her only other true injury coming from Adam, another of the demons from her past.

These were her penance.

"I wish you forgave yourself." Yang's voice broke through the veil of high-pitched ringing surrounding her mind, her senses lost in the haze of pain as all her injuries responded in tandem. Warm fire shot along her wounds, chasing away the lingering lances and stabs but crucially not giving them the Aura to close. More warmth dug into her scalp, fingers tracing her delicate ears, replacing her suffering with undeserved pleasure. "She wouldn't want to see you like this."

A sob was caught in her throat by a laugh, leaving tears running from her eyes both from choked sadness and insane hilarity. Yang continued to card through her hair, soothing her through the worst of her episode. Another weight settled close to her hip, not providing anything more than her presence, her hand seeking out and finding a partner to hold on to. They let her ride out the tremors, not sure what brought them on but knowing she needed them right now.

"You…" She couldn't get her next words out, trapped between two choices of wanting to slap Yang with the same response she used before or letting her Aura back into her body to heal her momentos. "I can't…"

"I failed too sweetheart." Weiss took over petting the Faunus, guiltily taking pleasure in the ragged purr breaking through her mixed responses, garnering a genuine smile from the researcher. "I failed to contain her, not considering she could make my Semblance useless. Yang failed to subdue her, not able to harness her conflicting Auras, and you failed to calm her down." Blake clutched her hand tighter, pressing down against the knuckles in the hopes of making them crack. "We all failed to save her, but remember she chose to go, and we had to follow her orders, no matter what they were."

Blake brushed aside Yang's careful ministrations and pulled herself up to a seat, wiping the tears from her face with her palm. _No, not that._ She signed out, turning around on her spot to face them, noticing them both share indecisive looks at her return to non-verbal communication. _I should've found her sooner._

"We can't change our pasts, no matter how much we regret the mistakes we made." Yang chimed in softly, Blake understanding she still blamed herself, however little, for not following protocol and getting captured in Ruby's stead. That damned mission had robbed them of her for months only to have her return in pieces.

Even now she didn't know if Weiss would've wanted her to take her place, her death being the most probable outcome.

The infinite possibilities of time meant Ruby might've lived whole, but whether is would've allowed Remnant to persevere opened an entire warehouse of questions they could only speculate about.

"We can't change established timelines. The time-space continuum simply won't allow for their existence and will theoretically correct themselves if allowed." Weiss easily washed the emotion from her face, slipping into the familiar persona of a teacher. "Even this timeline isn't our original, merely a branch that split from it at some point in the past."

 _Doesn't mean I can't regret it._ The latter words got lost in translation as she stood up, the other two filling in the ending. _Neo could fix it._

"Neo is a chaotic neutral, striding across time and space with little care for anything except that which she finds an interest in." Weiss easily rebutted, taking Blake's hands and keeping them warmth as the compressed air gave way to Kuo Kuana's late autumn breeze. "She took an interest in Ruby for her own personal reasons, none of which we know for certain. It's like trying to figure out which class you're doing to play in D&D."

Ambient light trickled into the fuselage as Yang punched the bay release and sat down onto the ramp, patting the spots next to her. Weiss magnetically attached herself to one side, sapping away at her ever present heat, her own cold core mingling in harmony. Blake slunk over to the pair shortly after, curling into the offered side hug and enjoyed the comfort, wiping the last of her tears on her shoulder.

"What alignment do you think Ruby would've been?" The dying trees around them shed their leaves in their radiant glory, falling down and spreading their color across the still green grass, a much needed relief to Atlas. Damp earth invaded the smell of the air around them, replacing the crisp snow scent from the cycled air within their ship.

"She was definitely a chaotic good. She had no respect for any of the laws but she stuck to her mission to the- end." Weiss powered through the last work, swallowing the ball of heartbreak and feeding it to the black gem attached across her lower back.

 _And you're a lawful neutral, clinging to the organization she made a family with, living by Ruby's standards and believing in her,_ _ **still**_ _believing in them._ Blake squeezed as much of her sentence as she could into one-handed signals, letting them fill in the words she didn't know in the more concise language. _You'd follow her orders above all._

Weiss tried to ignore the teasing lit behind it, bashfully hiding her face in Yang's shoulder to hide her flaming cheeks. Memories of the many times she got pinned and subdued by Ruby running through her head, making her fidget in Yang's arms and rub her thighs together. Blake had her own experiences with following Ruby's _orders,_ but she at least had the track record of flipping around and having her way with her.

Weiss… not so much. She only really liked to exact her revenge on Blake to keep her own sense of superiority to her, but she wouldn't kink shame the poor girl. She had enough of her own after all.

 _And you're a lawful good._ She stared deep into Yang's eyes, lips quirking at the odd phenomenon of her iris, beautiful ruby speckled with flakes of amethyst. The unimaginable power of pure energy manipulation roiled behind the dueling colors, giving them a glow visible even in the daytime. _You fight because there's evil in this world and, as a good person, it's expected of you._

Yang caressed her chin lovingly, Blake shivering at the expected contact of roughened metal but getting only calloused skin. Years of playing and tinkering with the prosthetic had warmed her to the arm and accepted it as part of her body, enjoying the cool contrast it provided to her fiery skin. "And you're lawful evil incarnate. You exist to follow Ruby's iron rule, rarely questioning what evil or good you perpetrate because in your heart, you believe she's what's best for Remnant."

Blake's ears clamped down on her head, disappearing among the dense mess she called hair. Her Aura joined right in, tightly coiling around her core and restricting her other fragments from flowing around her body and forcing the fine hairs on her skin to shoot straight up. Reacting predictably to her initial response, her sharp claws dug deep into Yang's thigh and shoulder, easily drawing rivulets of blood, the surprise bypassing her usual shields.

"Hey, hey." Yang shushed gently, forcing her head into her shoulder and petting the cat ears she so adored. "I didn't mean you were evil, shush, just that you're the one most willing to take a human life, but always towards a goal. Shush, hey, I love you and I didn't mean it like that, shuuuuuuuuush, I love you."

"I don't think I've ever seen her so terrified before." A fourth voice had Weiss flying into assault mode, an immediate dome of glyphs snapping into existence around them. Another layer formed near the incoming voice, glowing a bright yellow before detonating in a brilliant firestorm.

A cry of warning rang out just before the explosion, a black blur tackling the owner of the voice just in time to prevent their fiery demise. Yang's conditioning had her reinforcing her shields and wrapping them around her teammates, a clone detaching from Blake and bursting through the first layer of protection, rushing at their attackers.

A clawed hand intercepted Gambol Shroud before it could connect with anything, golden eyes meeting their equal in a standoff. Blake barely registered her father, eyes still locked in slitted form and chest heaving from the burst of adrenaline. She refused to acknowledge the arms coming to wrap around her from behind, Kali resting her head on her shoulder.

"The war is over." Kali trailed a hand down Blake's shoulder and wrapped around the handle of her weapon, not trying to pry her fingers off. Her daughter relaxed just a hair, her tense muscles dropping out of fight mode. "You don't have to fight anymore. You're safe."

"Damn Blake, you really gotta watch where you're swinging that thing." Ghira released his grip on her blade, staring at the bleeding gash on his palm. He rubbed a thumb over the opening, wincing as her Aura seared it shut and the smell of singed flesh permeated the air around them.

The real Blake snapped from her tremors, looking over at her clone and wondering what her mom what doing. She just stood there, carefully keeping a tight grip on Shroud with her to make sure she didn't accidentally impale or stab someone while keeping her arms wrapped around her, despite knowing it was a clone.

Standing from her seat on the ramp, she sprinted over to her mom to get a better look, unable to not notice the familiar stance she used in combat, nor could she ignore the feeling of being watched by a greater predator. Her instincts had her turning on the spot with both Shroud slashing at head height with a knife, Kali taking the brunt of both before she exploded, finishing off her combo.

Her temporary intangibility lasted just enough for the shock of killing her mom to course through her, her senses slammed shut as her mind screamed at her for her faux pax. Yang's earlier comment about her alignment rang true in her ear and if she was willing to use such extraneous force in friendly territory, then how deep did her rabbit hole go?

A foot slamming into her ankle broke her condemning line of thought, her body falling almost comically slowly as Ruby's Semblance attempted to halt her. A hand slammed into her shoulder and spun her around, sending her flat onto the ground on her stomach with a knee pinned on her lower back.

"Oh sweety, who do you think taught Adam everything you know?" Kali condesingly patted Blake's hair, moving to sit on her daughter to keep her comfortably pinned, unable to see the devious smile on her face. "You're two decades too late to keep up with me rookie."

Blake collapsed into earth Dust underneath her, making her fall flat on her ass and stare around bemused until a short sword got placed at her throat. She looked up the side and smiled with pride filling her eyes, now quite unsure whether this was her real daughter or whether this was another expertly positioned clone.

"You've learned." She took the offered hand and stood up, brushing the used earth Dust from the back of her dress. "But not even Adam wouldn't have trained you to such a level, and I don't think Beacon taught you that either."

"Beacon would like to take credit for her training, but Blake is really just the product of her own perseverance, prodded along with our late leader's helpful guidance." Yang stepped to Blake's side, pulling along Weiss with her. She was extremely shaken when the ball of grief in her chest barely rustled.

Neither Kali nor Ghira knew how to react to that piece of news, only having a few previous interactions with Ruby to gauge the small redhead. They exchanged curious and forlorn looks, sending the team their own looks of mixed pity and sympathies but getting incensed and righteous fury in return, recoiling at the mistake they made.

RWBY didn't need their feelings.

"When?" Kali reached out and took Blake's hand, squeezing it warmly.

"A few weeks ago." Weiss answered for her. "We've been holed up back in my old place in Atlas trying, and rather spectacularly, failing to cope with it." Ghira had to noticeably hold himself back from throttling the Schnee on pure instinct for daring to speak for Blake. Weiss cheekily stuck a tongue out at him.

"I'd say I'm sorry for your loss, but you've probably had more than enough of empty platitudes." Yang took the offered words this time, nodding confidently and acceptingly. "Does this have anything to do with your Fourth Commander's death?"

Not surprising for the isolated island nation of Menagerie to had heard of her passing.

"She _was_ our Fourth Commander, but you didn't hear that from me." Yang answered, looking down to Weiss for a small random tidbit of information only they could understand and getting a similarly vague expression in return. "Though, you two are family."

Blake was already scratching the back of her head in preparation for the incredible looks from her parents. Kali dropped her incredulity and replaced it with disappointment while Ghira went back to resigned weariness for losing a Commander.

She yelped in pain suddenly as her ear was pulled harshly, grateful Weiss didn't accidentally severe her mom's arm from reflex. Kali didn't relent until she pulled Blake clear through the door of their home, Weiss smirking self-righteously all the time while following them, keeping on hand up for a five and hanging onto Yang with her other.

Ghira indulged her narcissism, catching up to his family to catch Kali disciplining Blake with a scolding finger.

"You come back home after months away with not even a letter about how you are or what you're doing and I find out you got married and I wasn't invited!" Kali produced a spray bottle from a cupboard and proceeded to discipline her, getting her hair wet and having Blake glare at her through wet locks. "And now I find out I never had the chance to meet her as family!"

Blake heard Weiss whisper something about Kali being more concerned about Ruby as family and a daughter-in-law rather than her a Commander but Ghira brushed it aside. Those came and went across the ages, rare and extremely powerful, but family came once around and was meant to be cherished.

"If it makes you feel any better, the Fourth didn't like mushy family stuff. Most of the time she needs extensive persuasion to be coerced, usually with cookies, into even semi-intimate contact with us." Weiss took the bottle from Kali's hand and gave Blake a last spray for good measure, a few of her hairs getting clipped in the resulting reaction. "And yes, you can read into that as much as you want." She winked at Kali and then at Ghira, making them both gulp ominously at the rather blatant proposition.

"I don't need to know what goes on in your bedrooms, and I'd rather keep myself ignorant on what has or hasn't happened for my own sanity." Ghira had the final say in that matter, excusing himself from the kitchen but not before stopping in the doorway. "And as long as my island remains in one piece, along with my wife's sanity, you three can do whatever."

Weiss stared after him slack-jawed, blinking rapidly to make sure she hadn't just witnessed him walk away from her. Yang thumped her over the head for good measure, snickering all the while while Kali looked a little lost and confused at the interaction. "How dare he rebuke me so casually!"

"Aww, did the big bad mean Faunus ruler of Menagerie reject your offer of sleeping with him." Yang pulled her into a headlock and gave her a noogie, Weiss struggling futilely against the hold with her hands trying to pull her iron shackles from around her neck and feet kicking against the air. "You haven't been rejected since, what, Ren?"

"Hey, the only reason he said 'no' was because I was far better than Nora in bed and you know it!" She defended indignantly, giving up her struggle and laying their limply under Yang's control, a limpet clinging to her arms just enough to let her breath.

Kali loudly cleared her with a cutely flushing Blake trying to hide behind her, palm slowly dragging down her face to convey her utter disbelief in their proceedings.

"I'd sleep with you too, Kali, so please don't feel left out." Weiss surrender to Yang with a pat on her arm, standing back on her own two feet. "And just because I know both Blake and Yang has a fetish for it, I'd invite them too."

Kali's first word got caught in her mouth with a surprised urk, any further syllables attempting to follow but eventually never making any sound. Her lips twisted this way and that, eyes darting between Weiss' confident smirk to her daughter's frozen eyes.

"I can definitely see how you've been putting her clones to use." Kali replied diplomatically, a knowing glint in her eye telling them more than it should. Blake really, really didn't need to know her own mother also had certain proclivities for experimenting with clones but that cat was now out of the bag. "But I have to decline. I'm not up for that sort of family bonding."

"So if it was just me and Yang then you'd be okay with it?" Weiss immediately jumped onto her last comment, entirely too eager to sleep with Blake's copycat. Yang took it upon herself to pick her up and throw her over her shoulder, the heiress squealing at the indignity at her mode of travel.

Blake might've believed her had she not known she didn't secretly love the attention. She was an attention hog, on top of being a rampant pervert, but she was their attention hog and pervert and that made all the difference.

"Is she always like this?" Kali asked after she heard the front door shut, giving Blake her best stare down, channeling her best leadership qualities to make her talk.

"No." Kali glared at her for the simply answer, Blake rolling her eyes and raising her hands up in peace when it looked like she was about to get violent. "Our leader died." Her mom's eyes softened with a smile returning to her face, understanding it was just one of the, no doubt, many different and dizzying array of coping mechanisms they were all using to deal with Ruby's death.

She'd seen it many times during her tenure as a high-ranking officer during the Faunus Rights Revolution. Death had been a constant companion during those tenuous years, circling around them with its ice cold hands and smell of desperation, and many of her friends had both been claimed by it and been affected by it. Some had taken on more dangerous missions into the Kingdoms, some had wallowed in pity and depression, and other indulged in their vices until they could no longer differentiate between sorrow and high, lost in a haze of hedonism.

"Will she be okay?" Blake nodded rapidly this time, more than confident Weiss would bounce back and return to her usual self, if a little more rough around the edges as they each tried to take parts of Ruby's personality and integrate them. "Anything we can do to help?"

She shook her head after a brief moment of introspection. Short of letting Weiss rampage across the household to convince everyone to participate in an orgy, family members included, there wasn't much to do other than let her work through her funk.

She missed Kali's eyes glow impossibly bright.

"So why'd come to our little island nation now?" Kali prodded, her coy smirk disappearing and her eyes returning to a more appropriate somber mood. Thankfully, Blake wasn't a sensor or her surprise would entirely be for naught.

"She has the final bit of code to activate the CCTS tower and begin testing connections to the other four towers." Blake replied succinctly, moving to open the fridge and steal herself a container of milk.

Against their initial instincts, Weiss had chosen to copy over both Vale's and Atlas's tower code, keeping the parameters for offline removal the same. Ruby hadn't modified the code or asked for it to be modified in any way, playing her little game in the hopes they'd catch on eventually.

Though the system had backfired on them during their first dimension, the concept of removing all towers from the global network in the event one of them went down was stellar. It not only prevented the Kingdoms from waging war due to their critical importance, but ensured they worked together to keep them safe lest they all lose international access.

The theory of it was sound enough for Ruby, even if it failed once, but they'd be more than ready this time for whatever Salem, Cinder, and the Fang could throw at them. Glenn was stocked and the training to man its armaments was underway and Amity would be defended by the fleet Ironwood would bring.

It only left Beacon and the CCTS tower as a target, and even if it went down, the blame couldn't be placed on Atlas and their droids, the Fang becoming the primary and only antagonists this time.

Now if only Ruby could see it all come together.

She wiped away a tear before her mom could see it, nodding along to a tidbit of gossip flying around the town, her subconscious filing it away for potential extortion later.

Nothing had changed.

* * *

"Are we always going to be meeting at the end of chapters, or is this just a coincidence?" She placed her now empty bowl of strawberries on the table and reclined in her chair.

"Hey, I'm the only one allowed to break the fourth wall and that's only for comic relief so shush." The pink hellion leaned over the table and smushed a finger on her lips as an afterthought, her captive's sentence already complete.

Her voice echoed around the white expanse of the pseudo-afterlife construct with no clear origin other than everywhere. The usual voice in her mind whispering violent affairs with yet another voice counseling patience weren't there anymore so this was a rather new and comforting relief.

"I can do whatever I want as long as the author's cool with it, so tell me why I'm not dead and gone just yet." The second voice bantered back flippantly, a replica of her trusty weapon appearing on her lap.

"I have enough blackmail to bring him to his knees." A slim folder materialized on her side of the desk. "And I also happen to be his waifu."

"And I happen to be one of the main characters that still has a plot arc despite being dead."

"Don't I have any say in this?" A young male voice sounded out from all around them, similar to how the pink one's did earlier. "This is my story after all."

"No." The two called out, refusing to break eye contact with each other, dueling heterochromatic battling against impossibly shifting black and silver. "This is my show now." The first voice added in.

The male voice didn't answer back.

"What do you need my soul for?" The owner of the encompassing void marbles finally asked after a long silence confirmed he wasn't going to come back. The weapon on her lap pulsed with foreboding power.

"You're a one of a kind soul almost identical to mine." A flick of her hand removed the steel table between them and transformed their chairs into comfy loveseats. "I wasn't going to let you go so easily, not after I spent millennia waiting for you."

"And you just happen to have the ability to snatch someone's soul before they pass on, and hold onto it indefinitely?" The other asked sarcastically, biting back the surprise of even being able to chanel the emotion. Something to explore later on.

"Of course not." A large whiteboard appeared next to the first's seat, a black marker hovering in front it, poised to draw. "I spent a long time manipulating the odds to get you in a position where you'd die in a timely fashion."

"So you'd have me believe the entirety of three dimensions happenings and yet still future events are all of your doing?" The other raised an eyebrow as the marker danced around the whiteboard drawing crude stick figures and arrows until it could sell as a post-modern art piece. "My own creation wasn't supposed to happen, and you were nowhere near that."

"Maybe I just want to have mysterious air around me as an omnipresent mastermind rather than an opportunist." The pink thing made the marker write down to trust me in bold capitals with a smaller plea written down below. An almost invisible asterisk pointed towards more nefarious terms. "Or maybe this is the story I'm feeding you so you'd play along."

"And I know very well you'd need my consent to even touch me any further or we wouldn't be having this conversation." The second figure bantered carelessly. "And I only gave you permission to save me, nothing more."

"But what if I said I could give you a chance to end your war?" The second sat up straighter, almost releasing her weapon on reflex. The first one smirked, knowing she'd rise to the bait.

"You've played both sides for a longer time than I can fathom, so why now?"

"Because they violated two different dimension's laws concerning the balance between chaos and order, greatly upsetting infinitely more dimensions when they tried to fix it." The first cleared her whiteboard and made the marker draw out battling energies with black and negative space, swirling together into a spiral. "There's a universal order they disrupted."

"And I should concern myself why?" The other asked, abandoning her stiff posture and sinking into her seat. "My prerogative was to protect the innocent and I did my job to the very end, and now my war will end regardless if you interfere or not."

"But I'm giving you a chance to go after the source, to never have either side ever be manipulated again for any sort of agenda. To protect all of your precious innocents from getting in the crossfire between two conflicting forces."

"And what do you get out of this, other than just the vindication of tearing the status quo into shreds?"

"You." She steamrolled right over the return flirt, much to her captive's own surprise at her own response to the proposition. "I've been alone for a very long time and now I have a chance for a companion."

The second girl considered it for a scant few moments before nodding, slightly catching the first off guard at the easy acceptance. It was her ultimate purpose in the end after all, to see her people protected even beyond her death.

"Oh good, then here's the plan…"

* * *

 **AN:** I'm baaaaaaacccckkkkk! Please enjoy and lemme know what you think. I live off of reviews.


	28. Democracy

Chapter Twenty-Eight

* * *

 **Democracy**

* * *

The sun cresting above Menagerie's desert cast brilliant shades of orange and red across the vast expanse of Kuo Kuana. The lingering chill of the morning air gave way to the radiance of summer, the people of the city starting to go about their day with a resigned sluggishness, the memory of yesterday's heat boding no gift for today.

Despite the daybreak hours, the Belladonna household was already a bustle of activity, the resident foreign team happily waking up with the sun in preparation for their last few hours on the island. The usually irate Weiss was already practically vibrating with excitement, bright and vivid glacial eyes, lined with dark shadows and young wrinkles around them, opening to an unfamiliar bedroom.

The room itself was infinitely more furnished than Blake's rather spartan room, a large curtained window letting in natural light onto a plush rug sitting on dark-stained wooden flooring. More dark furniture sat around the perimeter of the room, its modern style chasing away any notion of any suffocating or clustered feeling from her old home's traditional and conservative style. The panic building in her chest abated as she recognized the familiar style of the Belladonna home, the fingers carding through her hair calming her down.

She wiggled ever so slightly in her pillow's hold, resting her chin on her bedmate's chest and took in the ever so slightly older face of Kali, a happy smile on her face as she snuggled into her and tightened her hold. The previous night's elation of getting most of the CCTS tower to work left her faster than Ruby, antifreeze replacing the warm blood of her veins as she unconsciously returned the snuggle to Kali.

Blake was actually going to kill her.

"Good morning," Kali mumbled, her mouth pressing a gentle kiss to the crown of her head. Weiss melted at the gesture, enjoying the long-forgotten touch of a mother, and though she wasn't technically her mom in any way, she wasn't going to say anything.

Just as soon as she figured out whether or not she was wearing any clothes and how she ended up with Kali in bed.

She looked down to her shoulder and breathed a sigh of relief as she noticed a nightshirt draped over her torso. A wiggle of her hips confirmed she was at least wearing something to cover her modesty, not that she had much to begin with, but she still drew the line of her rampant perversion at sleeping with her best friend's mother!

"Now now, you wouldn't be getting any ideas of starting anything with a married woman such as myself?" Weiss froze at Kali's tease, immediately stopping any movement, even her light breathing. She quelled the panic building in her eyes but not before Kali restarted her ministrations and pet her hair. "Don't remember anything from last night, do you?"

She hid her face from her prying and caring eyes, well aware she was burrowing deeper into a well-formed and endowed chest. Blake had some serious luck with her genetics, having the second largest set on the team while even Ruby had outpaced her growth, or rather, lack of, but both the complaints from her and Yang about their inconvenience for close quarter combat, and the latter's adoration because they weren't so large, more than made up for it.

Except that she knew Yang would've loved her whether she was large chested or not, and it wasn't like she was a close combat specialist anyway, her transition from a lightning-quick duelist into a control mage facilitated because of her incredibly flexible Semblance and the greater good she could perform when working with a team.

Ruby already had the lightning-quick movement trademarked, but with her idiotic sacrifice, maybe it was time to clean off the rust from Myrtenaster and learn how to fight in the real again rather than watch from afar and blow things up.

Her latent pyromania would've to take a short nap, maybe even a permanent one.

"Blake's going to kill me." She remarked blandly, snuggling deeper into the coffin of her own making. If it was already dug then she figured she was going to get comfortable, and nothing spoke of comfort more than a pair of breasts as a headrest.

"Oh, and what do you think you did to this poor matriarch to warrant such punishment?" Weiss only groaned at the prospect of finding Yang's equal in teasing. If Kali had a hannya mask appear from behind her then maybe the full anime trope would be complete and she could ignore everything as a dream. She just chose to accept the odd circumstances and endure her situation.

She wiggled her hips again but this time chose to push up from the bed and plant her hands on Kali's shoulders, staring down at her prey. The older woman wore a light cream camisole and what felt like flannel pajamas. Kali's eyes lit up with an intimately familiar glitter, making her bite her lip in anticipation of all the naughty things they could get up to. "It's not what I've done, frankly because I don't remember anything from last night, but what I'm going to do."

Kali leaned up to her ear, supporting herself with one arm while the other danced lightly along her stomach and drew out circles, eliciting tantalizing goosebumps. "And what are you going to do to poor little old me?"

She couldn't hold back a snort at the insinuation the woman was old. Nothing but the slight appearance of crow's feet around the outer edges of her eyes indicated her age, and she'd happily chalk it up to the stress of having to manage the burgeoning country.

"I'm going to make you breakfast." The seductress within her disappeared in a flash, making Kali blink cutely at the sudden loss of pressure keeping her in place. A trail of white petals flew from the duvet, along the hardwood floor, and out the swinging double doors. She had to briefly look and locate a strand of white hair to make sure the morning proceedings weren't a weird dream from a drug Blake might've snuck her last night for the bout of scolding on their arrival.

A loud clanging of pots followed by a loud yelp of indignation had Kali leaping from her bed and padding out into the interior balcony. She leaned against the balustrade and enjoyed the sight of Weiss trapped in four yellow glyphs, each one restraining one limb and leaving her hanging limply.

"Let me out Yang!" The girl struggled against her teammate's apparent restraints, making Kali chuckle merrily at her predicament before proceeding around the balcony and descending the stairs. Another figure appearing from her peripheral vision had her noticing her only daughter but another look confirmed her initial double-take at her hanging upside-down from the overhang, a pair of black glyphs on her feet keeping her anchored.

Blake waved at her cheerily before going back to eating her bowl of oatmeal and watching Weiss struggle to escape for confines, all still while upside-down with her hair hanging straight down and obscuring her feline ears.

"C'mon princess." Yang walked up to her captive and received a raspberry for her troubles. She tapped one of her glyphs, a shimmer of gold pulsing through it. "I made these in an instant and haven't bothered attempting to reinforce them. Use that strength you got from me."

Weiss bristled at the perceived insult and flexed Yang's core fragment for the first time since it took roost with her natural core, the warm rush of unadulterated and almost infinite power surging down her limbs and shooting into her muscles. Yang smiled proudly when a loud crack emanated from one of the glyphs on her arms, more following with each passing second until the first of them broke and released her right hand.

She gave up attempting to free her other limbs alone and slammed a Semblance-charge palm where she knew Yang's glyphs were weakest, failing to hit it the first and second time but succeeding the third, breaking their hold on her upper torso.

Unfortunately, the lack of proper balance didn't seem to occur to her until she started falling backwards, the lack of support forcing her off the precarious position she was trapped in. A glyph started forming to catch her on the way down but was ultimately unneeded as a rush of black petals enveloped her and she thudded against the chest of her other teammate, Blake smirking infuriatingly all the while.

"You're still not allowed in the kitchen, not since the last time when you somehow managed to burn water." Yang took mercy on her and released the glyphs from her legs, Weiss sagging down in Blake's hold from the awkward position. "Or the time you managed to freeze baked potatoes while they were in the oven."

"Hey, insult my cooking skills all you want but someone's going to have to take over Ruby in the kitchen and it's certainly not going to be Blake. I don't feel like eating fish for the rest of my life." She patted Blake on her cheek condescendingly only to receive a similar smile in return, her supporting dropping her on her ass with a grunt as the clone burst into a whirl of air.

"Yeah, she was an amazing cook," Yang answered glumly, staring past her wife on the floor with an empty gaze before snapping her head back up with a true smile and life pulsing in her crimson eyes. "But we grew up together and I probably learned enough from just watching her."

Weiss scrambled up from the floor and rubbed away the pain from her backbone. "Cooking isn't like osmosis. You can't just watch someone cook and get better from just watching them."

"I spent enough time watching you work at Beacon to have passed physics," Yang replied cheekily.

"Standing over my shoulder and copying my work isn't exactly learning." She replied snarkily, remembering the many times she'd been pestered by the blonde to either _help_ her with work or outright do it for her, thought Ruby had abused Beacon's by-laws to turn in only one copy of work for the entire team.

"Ufufufufu." The lively chuckle from Kali broke up the banter, a dark miasma starting to leak out from behind her form and creeping out into the atrium of the house. "You three sure are lively for the mornings, but I'd appreciate if you kept it down."

"You guys are seeing this too right?" Both of her teammates nodded blankly, Yang reaching out to touch the purple smokey and gelatinous mixture. As soon as she made contact with it, the entire mass funneled into the space behind Kali's back, the woman smiling creepily with eyes shut.

"Seeing what?" Kali turned around to look behind herself at the area they were staring at, finding nothing there. She turned back to witness their agape expressions, ever so slightly concerned with her guests.

"Hmmm, you know, it sorta reminds me of Ruby's ability to immobilize a battlefield from just exerting her presence, just this occurrence appears to be more physical than emotional." Weiss ignored the frantic return motions she was getting from Blake and Yang, skirting around Kali and poking at her clothing and the area around her, trying to figure out where all of the purple miasma had gone.

"What're you looking for?" Kali humored the girl and joined her search in poking the area around her back. Weiss narrowed her eyes and scowled, bravely daring to lift her shift to more closely examine her newest scientific curiosity. "Didn't you have more than enough time to _examine_ me last night?"

Weiss carefully looked at the precariously positioned Blake, unable to make out anything from her emotionless face, lips flatlined and eyes carefully watching her for her next moves. Yang was a much easier read, an almost imperceptible smile creeping on her face until Blake punched her shoulder and forced it away.

"I know very well I didn't do anything with you or Yang would've been clawing at the door to get in." Weiss let her inspection end, standing next to the taller woman. "I'm just disappointed you didn't take advantage of me."

Yang couldn't suppress the snort this time.

"You were so tired from your work from the last few days that you instantly collapsed in my arms." Kali hugged the girl into her side and brushed her hair with the other, Weiss enjoying the attention she was getting. "It became impossibly cute when you refused to let me go and called me 'mom'."

Weiss flushed a brilliant red all the way to her ears and refused to meet her teammates' eyes, pressing deeper into Kali's embrace in a futile attempt to escape their prying gazes. If she took the time she would've found both of them smiling beautifully at the situation.

Yang, as usual, took the entire thing in stride, rushing up to the pair and encasing both of them in a large bear hug and swinging them around with her absurd strength. Weiss, quite aware of her idiot's tendencies to make questionable shows of her affection ranging from public hugging to throwing her against walls, accepted it with little more than a sigh of acceptance, a quiet noise of contentment escaping her lips.

Kali, however, took the sudden violation of her personal space and gravity much more violently, those long repressed instincts from the Faunus Rights Revolution baring their fangs and swiping angrily at the juggernaut in the form of a clone materializing next to her.

It was hilariously bowled over by Yang before it could retaliate in righteous anger, a loud squeak of surprise making Yang stop her spinning to look at the pretty burst of fire Dust exploding against the door Ghira happened to be coming through. He crashed back into his room bringing the festivities to a halt, Yang blinking dumbly at her unintentional destruction.

Blake's snicker returned Weiss' attention right back around to her usually quiet other girlfriend/lover/wife/sister-in-law/teammate. They should probably come up for a name to encompass the clusterfuck that was their convoluted relationship cause explaining they were a very disjoint team that split into different relationship pairings before all coming together into one while also allowing for the occasional open fling, usually involving at least two of them, was a pain.

Not to mention that the usual response to learning they weren't joking once they fully explained their unorthodox relationship was disgust, sometimes followed by good-natured questions asking why and/or whether they were aware of the legalities. This was all also on top of their subservient to Ruby while also balancing their power of democratic override against her.

Sure Yang had used the veto most recently with their plans to assassinate Jacques Schnee but eventually relented due to a lack of a suitable alternative option. They didn't have the entirety of Beacon and Atlas' Airship fleet and had to make do with a more decisive and questionably ethical option instead.

And then Ruby had died so selfishly, choosing the people of Remnant over her own family making it also paradoxically selfless, leaving them bereft of a one-track-minded leader who was unafraid to challenge the status quo and wielded enough power in her body to decimate whatever force dared to hunt her.

The entire power dynamic of the team went wonky and several weeks later they still couldn't figure out who truly lead the team. Yang did so begrudgingly and on paper only, not yet exerting her role while still following Ruby's rather unconventional campaign to once again disavow their Hunters from the constricting bureaucracy of the Council and cripple their war hawkishness and unnecessary military operations.

Such simple goals that required so many unnecessary deaths and the destruction of the misguided elements within the military weighed heavily on her, the past terrors of the Fang, the SDC, and the Second Great War coming forth. All elements but the SDC's treatment of their Faunus slaves had been exacerbated by the war, the worst of humanity coming out to challenge the Hunter Coalition for control over the four countries.

Gangs, funded by the oligarchy stuck in their conservative ways, waged skirmishes against the extremely unfunded and understaffed police force. Private militias of wealthy corporations split districts based upon valuable resources located in them, splitting the already strained population into choosing sides. These types of rebellions had been quickly put down by the now martial state government that previously held control over them, the military now serving as de facto police due to the Coalition forcing any conflict to halt, serving as neutral peacekeepers in a world set on imploding.

But it wasn't fair to lump in the general population with their corrupt governments, their primary roles of Hunters demanding they still protect them from the forces set against them. Most lived content lives, unaffected by the cold war trapping their countries in isolation, militaries locked within imagined borders set by the Coalition.

Rarely did the Hunters choose to engage in direct combat with their country's militaries, the four High Commanders arguing it wasn't their right to slaughter mostly innocent men and women following the orders of vastly corrupt Councils. As much as Ruby was a closet murder hobo, she held multiple priorities higher than others over the wants of her own warped demon.

Her zeal for dealing with even low level threats had given her her nickname, after all, an imperceptible wraith on the battlefield able to carve swathes of red through acceptable casualties.

Few combatants ever received the recognition a mononym gave them, RWBY receiving theirs during their wars and Ghira and Kali gaining theirs during the Faunus Rights Revolution, the Fang's 'Silent Guardian' and his mate, the 'Shimmer'. Their hammer and scalpel approach led to their victories in Mistral and Vale, their weaknesses covered by each other.

The feared guardian of the Fang moved into the large and open living room with a heavy trudge to his step, holding a hand up to his nose to stem the bleeding. His piercing eyes found the duo of Kali and Weiss struggling fiercely against Yang's iron grip, a goofy grin on the juggernaut's face.

"Dare I ask?" He sighed wearily, more than aware of the antics the resident team could cause. It wasn't the first time Kali or he had been hugged in elation, but those were usually preceded by city-wide drinking binges or streaking. They were thankfully aware enough to hide their identities, but Weiss was a chatterbox if she consumed anything more than a beer.

"We seem to have adopted two new _children_." Kali hung limply after realizing nothing but the blonde's agreement would release her, rather enjoying the perpetual warm the girl seemed to possess. Weiss was a rolling mess of blush, her body imitating one of her favorite wines. Yang just took the impromptu adoption in stride, squeezing ever so slightly harder, barely blinking at Kali's chastisement.

Blake continued her almost silent observation, a breathy and raspy chuckle escaping from her now pristine vocal cords. The psychosomatic symptoms from her previous injuries still refused to leave her in peace, Blake remaining the soft-spoken and violent assassin they all loved.

Ghira stared blankly at the Freezerburn pair for only half a second, choosing instead to note his one biological daughter was hanging from the rafters by her feet by a pair of shimmering violet glyphs, each one flickering from existence for a few moments before emerging again.

"No one adopts me because I adopt them first!" The blush on her face transformed brilliantly into heated denial. "Besides, no one's adopting me just yet, at least officially. I don't want to deal with the bullshit conflict of interest forms while I sit on the Atlesian Council."

She squirmed a bit more viciously than usual, prompting Yang to release her hold on her two prisoners. Once free from Yang, she immediately got trapped in a soft hug from the side from Kali, the older woman apparently never hearing of personal space and squeezing her tight and resting her head on hers.

"Well, whenever you feel like you _unofficially_ need a hug or _unofficially_ need someone to talk to, then just remember that we'll be here for you." Weiss didn't see the obvious look of pressure Kali sent to Ghira, the leader of Menagerie not cowering at all under the implied threat, instead arching an eyebrow.

"The midget's grown on me, what else can I say." He strode over the open atrium and placed a comforting hand on her head, rustling her greatly contrasting hair. He felt the suppressed twitch from the girl and laughed heartily.

Yang braced for the incoming slap she knew was coming the moment she took her scroll out and started recording the moment, her shields absorbing the predicted thump easily, a silly smile on her face.

She turned and pressed a kiss to Blake's temple, the sudden return of a non-violent comeback throwing her concentration and making her glyphs break in loud succession.

Though she made no verbal noise of pain or surprise, the impact made the hugging three look down on her in amusement. Through the masked lingering pain from her time as a proper Schnee heiress, and the hidden blush she tried to suppress, was elation at finding an extended family again, at finding a mom and dad she could hopefully rely on this time.

She let a smile grace her face and rested her head against the floor, her trouble from falling forgotten. Maybe this was what she needed, someone to talk to, to hug, to care for that wasn't her team, even putting into consideration what she did with them behind closed doors.

And sometimes open doors.

She knew from personal experience that her parents loved her, even after the long hiatus she took during her teenage years. They so easily accepted her right back with little to no questions, nodding along with her decision to join Beacon's Hunters, silently proud she had made the choice to leave their new violent ideological and instead choose to protect those who couldn't protect themselves.

Only during these quiet moments could she appreciate what good people she had had in her life. Even Adam, in his own twisted way, only ever wanted for Faunus to be treated equally, his first death hitting incredibly hard despite her agreement it was a necessity.

Maybe he had a shot at redemption if Beacon crushed his assault with extreme prejudice but it could also serve as a catalyst to tipping him even further away from a peaceful resolution.

Ruby would've had an answer, but unless they could pull her soul from the beyond, they were stuck with Yang's leadership. Inexperienced she wasn't, but she wasn't the perfectly structured decision-making machine her sister was, letting her emotions rule her more often than not.

Her sympathies to ending the conflict before it began would've threatened the entire Glenn operation if it wasn't for Ruby's standing orders, Yang being first and foremost a soldier trained to follow commands. She was kind and optimistic, exactly what they needed to see this to the end, the lawful good tank of their party, the temper to her own viciousness and Weiss' playfulness.

If only she knew how much their loyalty to Ruby would soon be tested.

* * *

"Do I have to be here?" Ozpin resisted the urge to slam his head against the nearest wall as Council House security shuffled them along with priority, glancing at their identifications long enough to confirm who they were before moving to handle the next arriving craft. "There are enough people here to have even Yang running for the hills, and she's an extrovert."

The rather large complex of Vale's parliament was filled with pesky journalists, all clamoring for a spot for what was supposed to be a hearing between Beacon and the Council to discuss the fast approaching Vytal Festival and their side of their responsibilities as security and hosts this year.

"How you ever succeeded me as Commander is a shock." Ozpin carved a path through the throng of people, an imperceptible green shield gently making sure no one blocked their path to the Council.

"Different dimension, different me," Qrow replied glibly, swinging his scythe around his hand to further dissuade any prying hands or questions. "The Fourth wasn't always a psychopath. She was, at one point, an innocent child. I can grow."

"You escaped puberty two decades ago." Ozpin shot back calmly. "If having a child didn't make you grow up then I don't know what will."

"Hey, I came back eventually-"

"Quite literally after I dragged you from your newest dive and forced you back into work for me, might I add." Qrow shut up quickly after that, walking behind a smirking Ozpin with his head bowed a dark cloud chasing after him.

"Haven't tried to escape…" Qrow muttered under his breath, just loud enough to reach his ears through the rainfall surrounding him. "...yet."

"Do remember Yang will murder you if in any way you shirk the duties your own daughter left you."

"Duties I don't have to do until Blake returns to take my spot as an information analyst." He could see the quotes around his official title, the crucial position encompassing activities best left unwritten for plausible deniability. "And she's still in Menagerie, as far as I know."

Ozpin turned around abruptly and stared at him intensely, eyes penetrating deep into his soul and greatly unnerving him.

"Blake's been walking half a step behind you since just after we entered the building." Qrow looked to his left, indeed finding the black-haired Faunus standing quietly by his side and not saying a word, lost in her purple book.

His next observation concerned the people surrounding their small group, most of their whisperings concerned the pair of feline ears flicking carelessly about. Some were curious about the minority group, some barely blinked, and some eyed them with disgust.

Blake chose to ignore all of them, steadfastly reading as if she was the only being in the world. He wasn't anywhere naive to believe she didn't know about the looks directed at her; no person as talented as her wouldn't have.

She woke from her trance long enough to glance up at him and give him a jaunty wave before burying her nose in her book again, a cover he could easily recognize from his time in the dredges of the underworld.

He reached a hand out to confirm he wasn't imagining her and quickly received a cut across it for his troubles, yanking it back and searing the wound shut instinctively.

"Welcome back Belladonna. I assume your administrative leave did you some good?" She nodded without a hint of sorrow or shock showing through. "Good. Will your other two teammates be joining us?"

She shook her head this time, replying with a single word. "Beacon."

Ozpin nodded, turning swiftly and walking down the hall again with his underlings playing catchup, Blake choosing to ghost over the carpet and Qrow taking a moment to stare after her before jogging to meet her.

"So, um, how are things?" Qrow cringed at his attempt at small talk, closing his eyes and waiting for a slap to hit the back of his head for this terrible greeting.

He, instead, kept waiting, stopping in the middle until she got her anger out. Having the fireball that was Raven on the team should've done wonders for his ability to read women, but it apparently was a rare trait among men.

Daring to open his eyes, he saw nobody to the left of him anymore, confusing him until she turned around and saw Blake watching him with a curious gleam and a tilt to her head. He couldn't shake the thought and feeling of being watched by a predator, the walls starting to constrict around him.

She blinked in front of him before he could notice, a pair of arms wrapping around his torso as a head attempted to burrow into his chest. The sudden hug kicked his brain into action to return the gesture, still unsure why or whether this was all real.

This wasn't a time to get into an argument with himself.

He was just satisfied he didn't get an answer back.

"I miss her too." He flinched at the quiet voice stirred up pressed down emotions from Ruby's death: grief and denial, regret and pain yelling inaudibly in his ear, a blanking cacophony of noise making him unable to hear anything she could've been telling him, his senses returning as Ozpin made his return to collect them from causing any larger of scene.

"You know, I probably should be terrified you chose today of all days to reappear in society, especially given the rather coincidental event of the Council's meeting with Beacon where the entire parliament will gather to pester us with questions," Ozpin said as innocently as possible, a twinkle gleaming in both of his eyes. "It would be a shame if anything happened to them."

Qrow took one look between Ozpin and Blake and paled drastically, noting the dozens of possible hiding places Blake had knives tucked away in on her form and then added a few more for those places he couldn't see or check. With their status as essentially being above the law when protecting Vale from Grimm, at any and all circumstances, the security here had no right to disarm any of them.

He had, after all, walked in here with a large sword on his back and received nothing but a cursory identification check. Blake, however, was a(n) (un)known assassin, a terrifying master of stealth and deception only bolstered by her genetic heritage.

He could see why Ozpin had extended the Lucifer Protocols to the entire team if he was encouraging the girl to play dangerously in one of the most secure facilities on Remnant, the Atlesian Council quite literally meeting into a nuclear fallout bunker with no connection to the outside world.

"I certainly hope you're the real Blake and not just a clone to distract me from running interference." Ozpin gently pushed them along the corridor down to the large meeting room. "I'd be a shame if something happened under my nose. The rumors that would start would be scandalous and I'm not sure if my heart could take it."

Blake continued with her silence, eyes darting around to take in everything, a finger tapping periodically on her thigh as she walked, both of them picking up a few letters or words but not able to string much together, Team RWBY having created their own shorthand to communicate more effectively.

"Anything seem off about her?" Qrow whispered to Ozpin, catching Blake's ears swivel over to point at him while she continued his recon.

"Other than the feeling I'm being stalked by my worst nightmare, no... nothing really," Ozpin replied cheerfully, gaining a pep to his step. "Or it might be because she's not wearing Gambol Shroud."

"Shit." He instinctively reached for his scroll to notify security about the imminent threat to the lives of every Councilmember in attendance but Ozpin stopped him before he could turn the screen on, his Aura pressure wrapping around Qrow and freezing him into place, reminding him of the still wide gap of power between the former Commander and himself.

Despite the title now belonging to him, it was nothing but honorary and served to help Ozpin split up the massive amount of duties previously taxing him.

"You're about to commit treason so think carefully about what you're about to do." Oz leaned in and took care to make sure no one outside of their group could hear. "Do you honestly think it's a coincidence she showed up here or are you just playing thick?"

"I took an oath when I became a Hunter: to protect the innocent from harm, be it Grimm, or in the rare cases, human."

"Yes, you did." Ozpin gripped Qrow's shirt and stepped into him further. "And in that same oath was the overriding vow you took to follow the orders of your Commander unless you believed them to be corrupt or unfit for their duty."

Qrow's eyes narrowed at the implied order he just received.

"It's not a coincidence Blake appeared here today, just as it's not a mistake she chose not to copy over her main weapon. She wants to let us know what she's here for, the Fourth's weapon when she needed someone to disappear quietly."

"As much as I don't like the old farts, they still count as part of the population and need to be protected." Qrow snarled back angrily, Ozpin taking offense and pulling him across him to slam him into the wall. The background noise of the denizens milling about quieted but a shimmering green shield wrapped around them and cut any conversation off.

"You're still thinking like a Hunter, not a Commander. What do you think happens if you inform the Council of a threat to all of them coming from within our ranks, someone with the skills to kill all of them before even detected." If Qrow thought Ozpin would relent on the pressure he was exerting then he was dead wrong. "We lose trust, we lose Amity Coliseum, we lose influence, we lose money, and we lose our reputation. She wants us to know there's nothing we can do to stop her because she's still operating on our Fourth's orders."

"But that's why she-." Qrow looked warily over Ozpin's shoulder at the reading Blake.

"Our strength relies on having those three working with us along with the other four Kingdoms playing nice because of the Fourth's overtures to them. She played her cards well, keeping the Atlesian Council in her grips with the SDC, Vacuo through Sienna Khan, and Menagerie through Blake, all of whom would take offense to outing her team." The clone gave no reaction to them weaseling out her plans, watching the altercation with apathy.

"What you fail to understand is that our Fourth wasn't just a Commander, but the High Commander of her time, a being tested by the toils of war and loss. She sees Remnant as a game, manipulating pawns as she sees fit, moving you and me to her whim because she has truly nothing to lose at this point." Ozpin backed off from him and gave him breathing room. "I have no idea what Team RWBY has been up to, no idea what Neo has been up to, no idea what happened to Amber, and even less of an idea of what the Fourth ordered just before her death."

"That's the game I'm playing at, picking up the pieces with what little information I have and trying to keep it together so that _maybe_ I can glue back the pieces that survive the Vytal Tournament. All I know is she planned for everything to come to a close during it, and I can only trust she had the best for Remnant planned out." He sighed wearily, running a hand through his silver hair, looking for the first time his proper age. "Again I'm reminded I'm nothing but an old man trying to keep my people safe."

Blake gave him a small applause, garnering a twitch.

"Did you practice that speech or did you just come up with it on the fly?"

"Contrary to popular belief, I'm not an omnipotent or omniscient god." He felt the stifled snicker more than heard it and resisted the urge to throttle her. "I play with what I have."

"So what? We wait and hope Blake doesn't kill everyone in the next room over while we attempt to figure out our Fourth's plan?"

"I have a spreadsheet somewhere. I'm pretty sure I linked it to you some time ago."

"I can see why she hated you now."

"Seems to run in the family."

"I'm still going after Blake." Qrow interrupted Ozpin's reply. "If there was one thing she taught me then it was to stick to who I was and to do something about it." He stepped up to the shield and Ozpin dropped it after a moment of contemplation, his new Commander walking for a few steps before turning around. "Maybe she was right Oz, that too often you forget it's actions that change the world and not just words."

"Blake's baiting you." The aforementioned clone didn't move Ozpin's side, watching Qrow move away from them and enter one of the many security rooms scattered around the main Council room. "And you're not going to tell me anything, are you?" She shook her head, going back to reading her book. "At least make sure he doesn't blow up anything."

He didn't know if she was mocking him by choosing to keep quiet or whether she was just being her usual infuriating self and not replying.

* * *

Her steps refused to echo no matter how hard the run-of-the-mill security guards wished they did, greatly unnerved as a Faunus moved so effortlessly among them without even announcing her presence. Only the black moon of Remnant on her shoulder prevented their needless deaths, marking her as a member of the current or former Command team.

The White Fang tattoo on her other shoulder had her smirking knowingly as one of the rookie guards stepped up to block her way forward. "Excuse me ma'am, but you're not supposed to be here. I have to ask you to leave." The normal request brought her up short, a pleasant surprise to the expected derision or hostility associated with her ears. She chastised herself for making the assumption of assuming everyone was going to assume the worst from her and assume she was a Fang member.

Then again, the tattoo of the terrorist organization probably didn't warrant any friendly response and she should've been satisfied she hadn't been immediately detained, and probably would've been had she not slipped in with Ozpin and Qrow. A drunken moment of pride and hope had branded her with the mark of a traitor, with her new tattoo marking her for respect and awe. How ever much she wanted desperately for the Fang to be reborn as a symbol of equality and prosperity for Faunus and humans everywhere, but how she assumed the worst for the people around her.

A shy and guilty smile found a place among her self-criticism.

Another of the guards shared a smile with her, reigniting the hope she had for the people around her. He apparently wasn't going to stop the rookie from gaining some critical life experience so she wasn't going to get in the way, resting a hand on the several openly carried knives bedazzling her hip.

The rookie immediately reacted to the perceived threat, his holster snapping open and his pupils dilating from the adrenaline coursing through his system. At least he wasn't an idiot and actually tried to fire on her. His eyes comically widened even further when he realized his gun was missing and was currently being spun around on Blake's finger, both the slide and magazine sitting in her other hand.

The sound of a clattering bullet had the other guard laughing at the shocked expression on his charge's face, the sudden disarmament making him freeze up with his brain unable to cope with what had just happened and why his superior wasn't doing anything to stop it.

"Rookie, meet Blake Belladonna of Beacon, the right hand to their late Fourth Commander." He stepped up and grabbed the handgun and attachments from Blake, deftly sliding them back together with the ease of any professional. "She has more skill in her pinky than every guard here combined."

"You see, for most people that would be an over-exaggeration and would inflate their ego, but I'm fairly sure she's still hiding her true level of skill." Blake resisted the urge to slap Qrow for daring to reveal more than he needed, but most people would take it in jest. "I haven't sparred with her yet but if she learned anything from her leader then I wouldn't recommend it."

"And this is Qrow Branwen, the current Commander of Beacon and father to their late Fourth." The guard slapped his younger before he could open his mouth again. "And no, no one is allowed to mention any Commander's name after their death."

"What, did Ozpin advertise my relationship to her along with the by-laws surrounding the Commanders with an email or did he just buy out a few billboards at the shuttle hubs?" She wasn't sure how to deal with his sarcasm or the proliferation of sensitive information that wasn't really sensitive but raised doubts about the sanity of the Hunters. Qrow tried desperately to ignore the dumbfounded look from the senior guard. "Okay, please tell me Ozpin didn't fly a banner around Vale."

"No, but he did send out an email to all of his Hunters, including the reserves and retired, upon the death of our Fourth on the sealing of her name, the Fifth's relationship to her, and the reasonings behind his immediate appointment and the retroactive splitting of the Commander and Headmaster role." The gears in Qrow's head engaged slowly, shaking off the last few days of cobwebs and dust until they were spinning at top speed. Blake was already at the level of thinking speed, but she didn't have the telltale coils of smoke rising from her ears.

"Our?" Qrow asked for both of them.

"Yes, I retired in 76 while serving under Commander Ozpin during the Faunus Rights Revolution after I sustained a wound to my Aura network, leaving me unable to channel anything. Spent a few years in a private security contractor before I got asked to become Head of Security."

Qrow's blood froze at the connections forming between the first two coincidental events. "And when did you get asked to take the job, and what even happened to the last Head of Sec?" Blake shifted her weight just subtly enough for him to notice, Qrow realizing she wanted to see him see her reaction.

"About ten weeks ago." Another connection formed and he got a nasty chill shooting down his spine. "He… handed in his letter of resignation suddenly and disappeared." If Weiss didn't have anything to do with this then he would eat his shoes in front of Raven.

"And how many retired Hunters are employed as guards, right here, on this day?"

"I'd have to look at the roster for today but everyone except for a few rookies like him are either reserve Hunters from the inner districts that work here part-time or retired Hunters that can no longer keep pace with the newer generation." The guard laughed at connotation behind Hunters being unable to leave the adrenaline fueled life the organization offered. "The Fourth... really had a way to motivate us."

"And dare I ask to whom your loyalty lies?" Qrow's smile tightened, the final connection forming in the large spreadsheet in his mind. "Are you loyal to the paycheck, or still loyal to Beacon?"

The guard eyed him warily as he took a visible and deep gulp and eyed his co-worker. "My loyalty will always be to the people of Vale, no matter what the Council may pay me." The final piece clicked together and a paranoid fog descended around him, making him notice the three cameras in the hallway and the many guards cycling around him, all of them discreetly eyeing both him and Blake with a nod.

"Fuck Ruby, what did you do?" He whispered under his voice, massaging his brow. It wasn't a coincidence that the Head of Security had just happened to be replaced right after Ruby's death, and he'd bet his pension that the money used to pay off the former Head was taken straight from a Schnee account. It also wasn't a coincidence he'd been replaced with a Hunter with enough experience to survive a decade after retirement and still be looked upon favorably to man the Council's security.

The Hunter cult lived far past just the Academy and reached deep into family structures and now even to the technically independent Council and the rest of the governing structures of Vale. It wouldn't surprise him to know Ruby had placed people within even the military after her death, her orders carrying the last and most weight than any previous, even more than those from Headmaster Ozpin.

It had cost Summer her life and torn their family apart, leading both Ruby and Yang to enter the life of the Hunters and to never look back, eventually causing the former to take up the revered mantle of Commander and wage a guerilla war with her own disgruntled citizens. She had paid with her sanity and been thrown into multiple dimensions, futile plans laid and destroyed at the whims of being greater than his understanding until she had died from an affliction of the mind.

Her plans still spun after nearly three months, changing the political climate to fit her ideals and ethics. He didn't actually think Ozpin would follow through with it, but it seemed his Hunters were incredibly more vicious than their Headmaster. That shouldn't have surprised him considering Raven had led a rogue and rather populous faction to fight for the Faunus during the Revolution and had come back to Beacon with little more than a slap to her wrist.

It was shortly after that she'd left them for the desert dunes of Vacuo, the promise of a family unable to dampen the call of adrenaline she had gotten used to during the war. She had made her own family, a subsection of the Vacuoan Hunters that answered only to her. She brought what little order she could to the desolate outskirt districts of Vacuo and her pack followed her.

And now it seemed that Ruby wasn't just going to overhaul the Hunters with a more elite version of Raven's own, but was going to completely tear apart the foundations that the democracy of Vale sat on to institute her own version of a shadow Council with her own agents in power through assassinations and blackmail.

Ozpin and him, they were the metaphorical ball of yarn for Blake to play with as she went and did Ruby's bidding, all planned out to the point even he knew about because it was an inevitability, because he couldn't fight Blake in the House, let alone 1v1 to begin with, and because Ozpin wouldn't lift a finger to help anyone's side.

"Then carry on." Blake finally answered the guard, or was it quickly, his mind either racing or lagging as he tried to process the coup that seemingly no one but the Hunters were aware of. This many words coming from the Faunus should've raised twenty different flags, forty more signals across his monitoring stations, and sent the Atlesian Airfleet scrambling across the planet to find her.

"Your station is prepped, sir." Blake was apparently imposing enough to be compared to Ruby's abdicated position and warranted the same mangled and misgendered pronoun she implicitly demanded from the lessers around her. He saluted her and handed over a small box before he dragged the utterly confused rookies away from them.

He didn't dare look back, leaving them alone in the hallway.

"Dare I ask what that button's for?" The innocuous box was colored a matte black with a red safety switch covering a button on it and nothing more. Blake played with the toggle for a few moments as if trying to figure out whether she'd go through with her mission, her ears flicking back and forth.

She gave him a beaming smile and placed the device between her wickedly sharp, taking a pair of gloves from her leg pouch and sliding them on. A hair tie materialized from her wrist and pulled her black tresses into an impossibly tight ponytail, hiding her profile. A mask got pulled over her face to complete the ensemble and he got the urge to run, hide, and pray she didn't set those predatory irises on him.

Nothing but her golden eyes dared gleam out from her outfit, the very shadows clinging to her form and refusing to reveal anything more than a black silhouette against the beige walls and fluorescent lighting. She taunted him with the little black box before depressing the button and plunging their hallway, and presumably the entire House, into darkness.

It took a second for him to realize that the emergency lighting wasn't kicking in, the glowing LED strips and even the EXIT signs sitting in the dark. Blake must've planned the entire operation for at least since Ruby died and dragged the Head of Security into it, though he was probably happy to be following her orders because of the implication they were the Fourth's.

If only their damn organization didn't breed almost suicidal loyalty. He'd read the reports from Raven's escapades in Vacuo, her people responsible for a large portion of the deaths related to the Revolution, the desert a veritable graveyard of bone dust interspersed with sand. That war had been bloody because Raven had wanted it so, the Vacuoan desert chosen as the historical battleground from the Great War.

As much as the Faunus wanted their rights, they weren't entirely bereft of their senses, sticking to the code of ethics war demanded from the inhabitants of Remnant. It made the war fast-paced due to the Atlesian armada's ability to provide aerial reconnaissance, Raven's talent in downing Airships using her Semblance, and the Faunus' genetic gift of night vision.

He still wasn't sure if Ironwood ever forgave her for the dozens of Ships she downed and the hundreds of personnel she killed because she was either too pissed at their peacekeeping mission, because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, or because she believed them to be an impediment to Faunus rights.

Blake was also probably up there on James' annoyance list from her short time in the Fang but her escapades never stretched outside Vale's borders, but he'd crucify her just on principle for her criminal past.

One that was about to include the murder of several Councilmembers in an extremely public space, and she was almost certainly going to get away with it unless he stopped her.

It took another precious second for him to turn on the flashlight on his scroll and leap down the hallway, Harbinger's gear turning to shift into its weapon form.

His light caught the many startled faces of the guards as he followed the trail of black and purple petals, his dread growing as they lead him to the main meeting hall.

The lights flashed on the moment he opened a side door, burning his corneas and forcing him to slam his eyes shut and wince in pain. The Aura from his run surged upwards to heal and flip his contrasted vision.

Blurry objects made out the circular table the Council sat around, counting at least twenty politicians sitting and staring around in confusion from the seconds of darkness.

He let loose a sigh of relief when he counted all 24 of the council members alive, and unharmed, along with their aides. They looked none the wiser to the quiet Faunus once again standing innocently and quietly by Ozpin's side, effortlessly having stepped into her clone and dismissed it.

To most, her Semblance was rather one-sided, allowing her to slip out of clones in danger or under duress. They couldn't think any differently than Blake, locked into her specific mindset, but also couldn't return knowledge directly back to their creator, having to rely on other forms of communication like scrolls or couriers. They were immensely physically weaker than their original and could only take as much damage as Dust used to create them, each type either enhancing constitution or increasing their death touch.

It was simple in how it worked, but she'd taken it and made it an art, making each type of Dust work differently and dramatically. She didn't spam clones out in droves to make up for a lack of skill or power, or only use them in one way or sparingly: she used them how she wanted to and if she couldn't then she didn't let that stop her, either working around it or finding a way to make it work.

This was the difference between an A and an S rank: the ability to ignore the limitations of Aura and Semblance and to think beyond the likes of infantry and elite, to surge past them into the realms of history and become legends since so few of them ever exists at any given point in time.

They were masters in their given art, so when he realized all of them were alive with nothing on them, and nothing but dossiers placed in front of them on their seats, he felt guilty he had assumed she'd gone after them to kill them. Even being told she had blackmail on some of them hadn't reduced to fear of knowing what she'd done, of knowing she stood next to Ruby in power and skill, his daughter having reduced him to a lump of useless the only time they fought.

He didn't count the lucky strike from Misfortune.

Through the noise of the Head Councilmember demanding the presence of their Head of Sec, he strode over to both Ozpin and Blake, nodding confusingly as she tapped out the impact of her mission, signaling she had failed, making him look over the room more carefully.

Nothing stood out immediately, the seating and lighting being no different, and neither were there any explosives under the table or beneath the floorboards, nothing looking out of place or immediately accessible in the few seconds Blake had had in the darkness before the backup generator kicked in.

Even that was probably planned, the exact time of the blackout lasting just long enough for her to get her job done and not arouse any more suspicion that anything was awry.

The dossiers were the only thing that could've possibly changed, but she had more than enough time to walk back to her place as planned, nothing coming to mind on how her mission could've failed. He stood there in a stupor until Blake tapped out 'elections' on his wrist and he realized that while some of the faces on the Council were different from the briefing he'd gone over, there should've been many more he couldn't recognize.

That should've been a red flag immediately on his briefing but nothing had been raised, and judging by Ozpin's subtle eye twitch and Blake's blatant knife twirling, neither of them had been informed about the failure to depose at least four of the incumbents either.

The election results shouldn't have come as much of a shock, despite their original predictions. It was the sheer lack of news regarding them that blew them away, nothing coming through either public channels, a rarity since these were elections, or through Qrow's network, a grievous hole in his information.

Blake didn't even think to check on the election result, seeing as more than half of them didn't matter in the end, but it was still an egregious error on her part to even fly into District 1 without confirming the results herself.

Qrow was taking it much worse than her, his network specifically tailored for internal communications and threats rather than her's external threat monitoring.

Of the predicted eight seats that were supposed to flip from the election _last week,_ only three had gone as predicted with seat changes going to more pro-Faunus candidates, with another shifting to at least a non-discriminatory one. But four of the eight that were meant to change meant the Faunus Equal Rights Bill would be shut down before it even escaped the preliminary stages of debate.

He tuned out the rest of the meeting, ignoring the demands from the Head Councilmember to have the Head of Security fired for the mishap. RWBY probably had a plan for him anyways and if not then it wasn't as if Beacon didn't take care of their own. Ozpin went on to answer any questions from them in regards to the protection they'd be providing for the Vytal Festival but didn't mention their recent and upgraded weapon armaments or any further projects, keeping them short, concise, and textbook.

He could stew later about the large game of chicken Ozpin liked to play with the Council once he found the glaring hole in his network and politely murdered whichever part of the government, Fang, or rogue terrorist organization dared messed with his information. Either, one of his informants had been flipped over the last month, and Blake had a free pass to do whatever she wanted behind closed doors, or something was blocking public access news to the Beacon district and his informants were assuming he knew about the public news.

And he knew what people said about making assumptions.

And as much as he was the Commander for Beacon, the title meant little to nothing if both he and Ozpin only performed the roles they were good at. He was good in espionage, blackmail, information gathering, data manipulation, and propaganda creation and distribution, but Ozpin was good with administration, arbitration, negotiation, political maneuvering and deception, dispute resolution, and Great Game management.

He was confident that last one was a joke Ozpin put on his curriculum vitae though Ozpin and Ruby were masters of their own, and in their own methodology, in manipulating the board that was Remnant. He was nothing but a servant to them, a master in his small field of knowledge, doing his best to trust in them and follow their orders.

But even that was failing him, his network turned against him by an unknown agent set to steer Ruby's work away from completion, to see her vision fail and burn. He didn't even know if this was Ruby's plan anymore. Were there backups in place for this event? There no doubt were many, but how could he even attempt to piece together what they were?

Would he sit in the dark, or would he be allowed to help?

Was Blake to resurrect her role as assassin again and claim the lives of the many corrupt or racist men and women on the Council?

Was there no compromise in the near future?

Was war brewing on the horizon?

Between them and the Fang?

Them and the Council?

This curse of loyalty to the Hunters meant he couldn't simply walk away from this hell and live off the grid. Raven hadn't, though technically she did literally 'walk away' from her team and family. His oaths kept him bound in service to the Commander and Headmaster after his oaths to protect the people.

But those got muddled, effortlessly.

Was the Council included? Almost certainly.

But what is the Council actively added to the threat of the Grimm and allowed the Fang to grow because of their policies?

What was Beacon to do then?

This was the line that even Ruby, in her own nightmare of a mind, knew was more immutable and intangible than Ozpin's mysterious age. Her psychosis defined the line enough for her to throw the Council into the pile she'd made for her enemies, but that was for her and hers alone, not for the entirety of Beacon.

He hated it, but the best thing he could do right now would be to find who dared messed with him and his own.

If only he knew how much he'd come to despise the answer to his dilemma, and the coming betrayal that could rip his life apart.

* * *

This wasn't supposed to happen this way.

As much as the Fourth hated the corruption and ineptitude of democracy, both representative and direct, it was still the best form of government that guaranteed accountability, freedom of choice, and spirited debate.

Even the Hunters, a notorious organization known to operate under one person, still submitted to the whims of democracy, only ever choosing a Commander with a supermajority vote, at least, theoretically.

But their stalwart attitude to outside interference, pragmatic outlook to Vale's defense, and utter devotion meant their Commanders wielded unparalleled influence in policy creation and defense management to the point they could quite literally ignore Vale's government and operate alone at a slightly less than optimal budget.

Their charter gave them incredible flexibility with almost no accountability in return for giving up voting rights to the rest of Vale. It was once the idea to divorce the two to ensure neither the Council or Beacon could influence each other, be it positively or negatively. The only string between the two was the budget, but that was a guarantee lest the public find out.

They were only supposed to be in charge of combatting Grimm, but the Fourth had been overzealous, unable to let go of her tortured past. She played the short game to her advantage, tearing the Council's presence in the Vytal Festival to shreds while ensuring the Fang had no fangs, building up their defenses to prevent the calamity from her old dimension.

But whether she had planned past that point was a mystery left to Qrow, the man left to lead the Hunters with Ozpin and Raven as advisors, two vastly different ideologies to guide Beacon after Vytal.

He'd already had to intervene when it came to the elections for the Council, Yang's propaganda working overtime to bring more seats in line with Menagerie, the growing country unaware of the team's manipulations in stopping the growing tide of resentment to the Faunus and ushering a new era of equality.

He'd done what he could to both stymie Blake's blackmail by rigging the elections back into equal favor, but he'd taken the chance that she wouldn't straight-up massacre the entirety of the guilty Council and force them to bow down to Qrow as an unwilling dictator.

Oh, he was sure he could and would do a great job, but the balance of power demanded the government and Beacon remain separate, the potential for abuse from either side forcing the original non-interference pact.

The Faunus Equal Rights Act was nothing but a blip on the radar in their history, the Fang creating the pace for discourse around them. They had plans, much like Beacon and he did, but nothing survived first contact. The Faunus would have to wait for the White Fang to die before they got their rights, the volatility of the situation likely to throw the country into a civil war.

It was a fault in the Fourth's plan.

She had a naive understanding of politics, so used to steamrolling her enemies and using her Aura pressure to make the Council bend to her whim, that she'd forgotten that Qrow wasn't able to command the same.

But no one was perfect.

He thumbed through the few paper documents littering his desk, the handwritten notes and orders incriminating him in more crimes than many would think him capable of. They got collected and shoved into the lowest drawer, a button discreetly incinerating them.

There was still enough evidence to tie the manipulation to him though, only a handful of people wielding the influence necessary to even attempt to influence the vote. Qrow would get to him eventually, but it'd take him time, hopefully enough for the Vytal Tournament to get underway.

He only had to make sure that Blake and Qrow never found out about his machinations before then, the former likely to murder him for daring to screw with both her rights and her late leader's plans, and the latter likely to sic his sister on him until there was nothing left but his name on the Memorial Stone.

If they even graced him with that right.

He hated this.

Hated the Fourth for making him do this.

Hated Qrow for learning from his daughter.

But most importantly, he hated himself for the actions that he knew he had to take.

His ever steaming mug of cocoa did nothing to chase away his nerves.

* * *

 **AN:** I'm alive! *insert evil cackle* I apologize its taken so long to release this. I tried to enjoy my summer vacation before my last year of university and found little inspiration or motivation to actually work on this chapter until the semester started again. I look forward to the many reviews and/or angry PMs coming from my loyal readers to see your reactions and criticism. I always enjoy reading them.

 **AN:** Hmmm, somethings missing at the end of this chapter and I can't figure out what.


	29. Four

Chapter Twenty-Nine

* * *

 **Four**

* * *

He blinked once to make sure his sight was still clear, spreading discharge over his iris and making him blink many more times to clean it away. He eventually resorted to wiping it away with the palm of his hand, taking the chance to drag his face down in a futile attempt to wake up.

He needed coffee, or something stronger.

The monotonous data and labels sprawled across a spreadsheet all blended, each number looking no different from the next, each informant's area mapped to a blurry geological location, each fragment of data revealing less the more he continued to look at it. Even color-coding each column wasn't working, everything showing up in shades of grey.

He rested a hand on top of his laptop screen, looking over his data one last time before slamming it shut and collapsing forward in his chair, looking dejectedly down at the bland office carpeting by resting his forehead against his cold desk.

A sigh of relief and exhaustion escaped his lips as he sat back in his chair, his breath catching in his throat at the presence of a familiar Faunus sitting across from his desk in his only chair that was never used because no one ever came by his official office space. He still wasn't sure why he even had an office space to begin with but apparently, it was part of his employment contract.

The one that he'd never actually signed or seen since he started working here but Ozpin swore kept him bound to him in cold-forged steel shackles.

He shouldn't have been too surprised, Ozpin used to keeping his little Hunters tied to him through many different ways be it groomed loyalty or nightmarish paperwork. He almost missed Ruby's method of ensuring her Hunters stayed in line, making them respect her for her absolute dominance on the battlefield and ability to cower the Council.

Though most of this dimension's Hunters would never know her as a Commander, just as a posthumous successor to their long-reigning Headmaster. He had read the reports from Blake and Yang, the few handwritten notes available to explain Ruby's psychosis and persona slipped into her medical file to bolster Angela's professional reports.

The medical doctor was perhaps the only person outside of Beacon's control, save for the pink hellion known as Neo, that was aware of the team's incredible history, their tormented past, indecisive present, and convoluted future. She possibly knew them as intimately as they knew each other, aware of their little quirks, nasty habits, and loving charms, their darkest secrets locked in her mind with only the broad strokes making it down onto the paper.

"Do you normally like sitting in the shadows or do you have a secondary Semblance that should be in your file?" The only reaction he got from Blake was a twinkle appearing in her dark amber eyes, the only light daring to gleam off her form. The rest of her body was wrapped in shadows despite the morning sun cresting over the horizon and shining in through the window.

She was even wearing brighter colors today and they still all looked muted and uninteresting. Her bright purple tee looked velvet, her white shorts, dark gray, and her hair looked just a shade short of vantablack. Even the twinkle in her eyes was darkened, only noticeable because she sucked in light like a black hole and it refused to appear unless necessary.

The ease she could disappear with was nauseating and he couldn't be more grateful she was on their side and not still a part of the White Fang. Few were the Hunters than could raise a hand to another human being and there were lesser still that could go through with the motion.

"I only have one Semblance." She replied succinctly, the shadows around her limbs receding until they remained only around her face, her short hair styled almost purposefully across her face to further obscure it.

He resisted the urge to sweatdrop, knowing she was smugly smirking under the shadows, refusing to say anything further. She was privy to her secrets after all, but she didn't seem to be lying despite him being unable to see her microexpressions.

He rationalized it away by looking for a reason she could be lying, not immediately coming to any reason she would. He wasn't an enemy, and if anything, he was an idiot dabbling with Ruby's former world. He held no illusions she needed him as a leader, Ruby having no doubt stomped loyalty to Vale's people but independence from everything else.

He wasn't a threat to her or her team, seeing as each of them could kick his ass, nor did she require anything more than residual guilt to get him to agree to her plans. Ozpin liked to use that method and while he hated he did it, he couldn't begrudge him it was the only effective way to make him work.

So if she did have only one Semblance, then her ability to darken her skin came from her ability to make clones. Semblances were never one or two steps once properly broken down through Beacon's mandatory theory courses, each step vital to making sure the Semblance as a whole could operate fully and efficiently.

Ruby and Yang's Semblance was much the same when he'd first helped them through their woes.

Ruby's wasn't just the ability to move at high speeds. It required control over the flow of Aura to her limbs, control over the speed her neurons fired at, control of how quickly her nerves brought in information from her surroundings and fed her reactions down to her muscles, and control over the counteracting pulses that gave her control over her movements while at high speed.

There were definitely more steps he wasn't aware of, Ruby using her Semblance instinctively to prevent her body from self-destructing, but each one of these steps was crucial to the entirety, and each could implode catastrophically if applied wrong, doubly for Yang's volatile Semblance.

Yang could quite literally blow holes into alloy steel but the steps to getting a controlled burst usually resulted in dangerous applications not taught until the latter graduate years of Beacon and was usually reserved for medics. Most students rarely realized how stupidly complex and intricate Semblances were, thinking of them in a linear fashion of only point A to point B, but they were, in reality, multi-nodal complex maps that could warp depending on skill and situation.

He knew for a fact Yang could choose to interrupt her Semblance because it worked on three fundamental steps: composition, deconstruction, and reconstruction, and each of these fundamental steps could be broken down into specifics.

From what little he had seen so far from Blake's Semblance, it functioned by creating a physical skin. Already that one step would allow her to take blows and injuries without risking herself or taxing her Aura and pushing it further just meant creating an actual clone. So why couldn't she use a mix of Dust to darken her skin to augment her already ridiculous stealth skill?

"I can see the gears in your head turning." The rest of the shadows receded from her, the morning sun finally touching her calves to reveal scratched and toned flesh. Those wounds looked decidedly old, scabs clinging delicately to regenerated skin. Many more injuries revealed themselves as the sun climbed out from beyond the horizon, the wounds dancing around her limbs, each one at various stages of healing, some looking as old and deep to be months old, and some looking a few days old.

"I have many things to think about." He tore his eyes from ogling her any longer, the jarring thought of her being nearly half his age and also his daughter-in-law coming in slowly. A tiny knife whizzed by close enough to his face to shave off a few hairs, letting him know she knew of his impure thoughts. Wasn't his fault Winter liked to shave him similarly when she got angry and it did little to abate his sin. "What is it about powerful, attractive women and penchants for violence?"

"Most of us take offense to being leered at, but I consider it a compliment." She shamelessly replied, uncrossing and recrossing her legs to tempt the poor man. "Many people still consider Faunus as below them so it's a refreshing thought."

"So you don't consider it weird at all that I'm your father-in-law or that I'm twice your age?" He briefly wondered about the relaxed incredulity she showed in the face of his blatant perversion.

"Of course not." She replied almost flippantly, leaning forward and letting her shirt exposed her lack of any breast bindings. "I know that I'm considered an attractive woman, with or without my ears."

"And you've certainly learned to use your natural abilities to your advantage." He pointed out, wincing inwardly at the implication he made she liked to use her feminine wiles. Thankfully, she was nonplussed about it, her position unchanging and her eye contact unabated.

"A girl uses what she has to her advantage, nothing more and nothing less." She leaned back in her seat, Qrow unknowingly releasing a sigh of relief as her cleavage disappeared. She smirked her usual infuriating smile, clueing him in on his mistake.

"Ruby put you three through the wringer didn't she?" She didn't immediately comment on his inquiry, choosing instead to tilt her head in her usual manner to indicate her curiosity. "Each of you chose a specialty because it contributed to your team."

"Each of us chose a specialty because it contributed to the team, not because Ruby wanted us to focus on it." The predicted response got nothing from Qrow, the analyst coming out to overshadow the flailing father figure.

"No." The succinct response quelled any further response from Blake, another head tilt coming out to question his question. "You choose your roles because Ruby crafted you into your roles."

He held up a hand to stop any response to his comment, Blake quietly settling into her chair with a visible storm cloud brewing above her head.

"The role your Semblances allow, and any theory class will corroborate with me, refute the current roles you and your team carry." He reopened his laptop and waited patiently for a few documents to load, the many observations about RWBY flying up for his purview. "Yang, for all given circumstances should've never seen the frontlines because of her theoretical infinite capacity of neutral and transferable Aura, her duty relegated to support rather than front line tank, despite her seemingly impossible ability to tank any injuries and strikes."

Blake interrupted him once he paused for a break, her scratchy voice filling the air and her eyes hardening to century pressured amber, drilling into his crimson orbs. "And I should be the frontline, my ability to create clones negating any fatality on the field because Yang would be able to replenish my reserves."

"Yes, and Weiss should've similarly met you equally on the battlefield, her ability to bounce between glyphs bringing her power to utmost fruition, Ruby being able to tear through anything in range." He finished reciting the report compiled by the senior class on Team RWBY's abilities and team dynamics. The class had taken the assignment with gusto from Goodwitch, practically pouncing on the task and analyzing them down to the smallest molecule. "And yet you each have your roles, so why did the class get their diagnosis so wrong?"

Blake sat in silence for a while, letting the cloud above her head spew rain down onto her while she thought through her dilemma. "You think she manipulated us to suit her needs?"

"I don't have to be a genius to know she made you fit her profile." She closed out the document to glance down onto an empty desktop screen. "She needed a spy, a support analyst, and an invincible tank, and each of you could fill a role."

The cloud above her head abated and she returned to glaring at him with baleful eyes, refusing to take offense to his observations.

"Should I be insulted?" He almost replied instinctively to her question, his mouth hanging open for a long time before he slammed it shut with an audible click of teeth. "You make it seem like we hate our roles, but Ruby solidified our roles because we showed an aptitude to a skill already used in our war, and she made us good at them because we made her good at her role: protecting her people."

"It wasn't her fault." He completed the thought, leaning back heavily in his chair and letting his somber mind overflow. "You made her your Commander."

"We made her a paragon: an ideal representation of what Remnant needed." Blake defended neutrally, her voice remaining at a steady level throughout. "We gave her a series of instructions and she followed them to the letter because she was just and unbiased."

"You made her a program." He couldn't hold back the growl from his voice, his Aura lashing out and making his Semblance spread around him in a menacing pool of oozing miasma. "You abused her after her torture and chose to make her what you wanted."

"We made her what we needed, an ideal to combat what had caused the war in the first place, a figure to follow when the Councils were eliminated and Remnant got plunged into a bitter and hopeless war." Her vocal cords sounded irreparably damaged as her volume increased, the latter syllables coming out as animalistic growls as she stood and pressed forward against his desk, his Semblance cowering against the perceived higher authority, a rather interesting phenomenon considering his Aura liked chaos and statistically shredded order apart.

"That doesn't excuse you made her a weapon for your use and refused to help her rehabilitate into her own person." He quelled the rebellious nature of his Semblance, shaving a few years off his lifespan to expend the willpower necessary.

"I never said she wasn't a weapon, nor did I refute your argument she was a program." Aura waves rippled across her skin, changing between different tones until they abated. He dared to meet her eyes, guilt, longing, and hurt gleaming openly in the retreating darkness. Her perpetually twirling knife stopped dead in her fingers, her full weight resting heavily on his desk. "She was Ruby."

"Yeah." Qrow leaned forward in his chair and rested his chin on his interlocked hands, meeting her gaze and making her smile creepily down at him, her dark tresses framing her face. "But she wasn't my Ruby. She was always yours."

"No, she wasn't." Her posture slumped at her own words, her confidence collapsing inwards. She teetered briefly on her legs, swaying back and forth until she fell back into her chair, looking resolutely defeated. "There was a time... during Ruby's imprisonment... that we forgot about who she was and started thinking of what she meant to us."

Blake let him stew at that comment, far more interested in the way the sun peeked through the window and slowly crept up along the wall and carpet, minute details showing themselves impossibly clearly as her passive night vision faded away. Her thoughts left a nasty aftertaste in her mouth and refused to leave the forefront of her mind, manifesting as a throbbing headache she drowned in Aura.

She didn't want to think too much on the months she spent throwing herself into finding her, her memories of Ruby distorted as they faded and reassembled under a different critical lens, her loving, exuberant, annoyingly bubbly, clumsy, and distractingly cute Ruby getting replaced by a darker and NSFW version: bloody, nude, tortured, and broken.

It was her fault in the end that Ruby had never recovered, despite how much Weiss and Yang tried to absolve her of the guilt by attempting to share the blame. She was the closest to her just before her capture, she was the one she spoke to the most, the one she sat by quietly while she read and softly pet her, the one she sent on suicide missions because she could trust no one else.

The one she trusted to find her.

She was the one with the most memories to help shape her back into who she once was to get past her horrible ordeal and return to a semblance of normalcy but she was a pillar when supporting Ruby through the remains of the black site she annihilated and ripped through, too overjoyed to consider the worst circumstances until she got her to safety.

But by then it was too late, her Ruby too broken to bring back, Summer slamming her behind the eternal gates of perdition and chaining them so securely it made each subsequent addition look overkill until there were more locks, bars, and seals than actual door.

The poor armrest of her chair paid the price of her rising anger, her claws coming out in full form and shredding the leather beyond recognition. The hackles along the back of her neck rose in response and her pupils narrowed until Qrow couldn't notice where her irides broke to accommodate them.

He didn't dare move when her ears twitched dangerously at every sound they could pick up, moving abruptly and swiftly to random and imperceptible noises he couldn't detect. The wall was spared from a laser-y death by her leg twitching violently at something he couldn't see, her passion dissipating.

He stretched forward to see what could've so easily broken her attention, only to come face to face with a somehow bashful looking shadowy tendril daring to wave back at him. He shooed the tendril away before Blake could execute it painfully but she looked too decidedly amused to even consider the notion.

"My Semblance doesn't usually do that." He stated lamely, unable to wrest control over the rogue tentacle to prevent bothering the stupidly overpowered Hunter and becoming the target of her petty revenge. He had files and one personal report of her so he didn't want to know how he'd fare against her while alone and in a dark place.

"My clones have their quirks." He wisely kept his mouth shut at her reply, only grunting in return. He might not lose a battle of wit and liked to banter with Winter all the time, but against Blake, he didn't want to risk confirmation of the few rumors he tried to shove into the 'Do Not Open' file cabinet he recently installed into his hippocampus.

That was almost overflowing with just random tidbits from RWBY along with Winter's biological relationship, and his civil relationship, to the now deceased asshat that was Jacques Schnee. That latter bit got repressed down to the point he had to grab an excavator to hide it. May the bastard rest in agony in his much deserved spot in hell.

"That's an odd way of referring to yourself." Blake smiled knowingly, cluing him into the face he'd made the correct guess. Nothing about her screamed she was clone other than her known abilities and aversion to the public eye.

"I have all of the memories the original Blake has since before my creation." She revealed nonchalantly, her previous knife coming out to play as it twirled quickly between her fingers, singing as it cleaved through the air. "I know all of my team's plans and the movements of my other clones."

"And you have a clone shadowing everyone important?" He glanced down to his laptop, his information network coming up decidedly short to the growing implication. He wasn't anywhere close to a threat to Beacon so if she deemed him a necessary target among the hundreds of possible threats he kept track of…

He reached into his lower desk drawer and removed an unsealed bottle of liquor, unscrewing it and pounding a liberal drink back.

"At last census, I have 386 clones within Vale's border alone, not including the half dozen I keep within Beacon and the three more within Glenn, each on orders to check in twice a month to their commanding Blake to collate data before submission to the original." She smiled her creepy smile, Qrow squinting at the confidence utterly teeming from her.

She had a network, that while not as large as his, had the utmost security at every single point of information gathering and transfer. He could extrapolate a few points from her revelation, each clone able to last for an undetermined time as long as it got fed Aura, the purest form coming from Dust, an item she'd be carrying anyway.

She cheekily removed a vial of fire Dust and emptied it into her mouth, grimacing visibly at the dry and bland taste. That at least confirmed one theory and led to another: that she either made these clones to last and didn't want them dispelling for memory transfer, a rather ludicrous idea because of a brain's limited conscious ability to process information, or they didn't have the ability in the first place.

That theory he didn't care enough to investigate. With or without the global communications infrastructure, Blake would find a way to reach either herself or her teammates, probably having several back-up devices or old-fashioned methods to try before resorting to physical meeting up at a predetermined location.

"You do realize you have access to my entire network." He deadpanned at her, quite aware of this face already and looking around exaggerated at the piles of paperwork surrounding him. Despite the race to the digital, people still liked getting physical objects, and due to their internal security, highly classified material was never stored on the cloud: created, printed, and destroyed on isolated machines across Beacon.

"I'd happily look over it if I had your amazing ability to multitask." He shoved the perverted thought of what she probably did with her ability to multitask away for now. He couldn't risk having another knife thrown at him at a closer tolerance and have her take skin and muscle off. "Do you even know how much paperwork this organization alone generates on a day-to-day basis?"

She took the topmost sheet of the pile closest to her and looked it over, the form looking normal and standardized for easy data transcription in case it was needed. Optical character recognition only made the process easier if it did need to be put into the system but it was still a marginal waste of resources, their recycling plants just not fully efficient to repurpose all waste.

He grabbed it from her instantly and looked it over, throwing it away once deeming it unnecessary. "I took this job to be a Hunter, not a pencil pusher, but I sit in front of computers most of the day trying to remember whether it was Oobleck that requested a sabbatical or Port that wanted a dog for some inane reason, or vice versa. I don't even remember which of them is addicted to coffee at this point."

"It's not only coffee he carries in his thermos. He likes to add a dose of lightning Dust to get up in the morning." He cocked an eyebrow at her, briefly considering the veracity of the statement before chalking it up to the eccentricity every Beacon affiliated Hunter carried with them to cope with the pressure of the job.

He collapsed limply into his chair, unsure of whether he wanted to tear his hair out, drink himself into a pit, call Winter to rant at her or throw Blake out the window for the usual apathy she showed during these situations, data being no different to her than reading her favorite smut.

"You're lucky you don't have to deal with the boredom of paperwork." Blake slapped him before he could get too lost in feeling guilty for getting trapped in Ozpin's manipulations again. She presented him with a pager, an obsolete but cheap piece of technology that could easily receive communications from a singular transmitter.

It was a rather ingenious way for Blake to communicate with all of her clones directly in case she needed them to know of a large scale change in plans or a wrench they needed to be aware of.

Like the rather terrifying implication that Ruby's identification number had been used to enter one of the largest military bases on the southern border. Their system had pinged the anomaly and sent an alert directly to Blake, her network hijacking the security network used by the military to communicate internally.

"How many people theoretically know her ID number by heart?" He handed over the pager, noting the specific use of someone gaining access to the base through a number login rather than a scroll chip read.

"The three on the team definitely, along with one other woman Ruby kept in her confidence, the mercenary only known as Neo." Qrow reopened his laptop the moment Blake showed him her pager, logging into the piggybacked military system and finding the report.

The woman, a nondescript tiny thing with brown hair and brown eyes, remained in solitary confinement until she got a personal transfer to a member of Ruby's team, or Beacon's Headmaster or Commander, part of the protocols for impersonating one of their leaders.

"And why would the most prolific mercenary on the planet be privy to a completely randomized set of alphanumeric codes that are strictly supposed to be kept and memorized by only one person?" He ruthlessly crushed the rising panic building in him to attack the problem rationally. He knew his code for the rare situations when he didn't have a scroll or physical identification card on him, but he could count the number of times he needed to use it on one finger. "What's the point of operational security then?"

The blank look he received for the last of his questions had him rifling through his files to pull open Beacon's information on Neo, an assortment of data streaming up to the display with an unbelievably short list of crimes. Blake started counting condescendingly on her fingers, prompting him to read the actual crimes confirmed to her name along with an additional list of potential ones.

"Wanted in Atlas Prime for the first-degree murder of General Du Couteau and the theft of two tons of rare Gravity Dust from the SDC, all of which is unaccounted for to this day. In Mistral for the theft of the original Vytal Treaty and the bombing of a fountain of all things?" Blake waved away his look of incredulity, reading over the next few heinous felonies. She was also wanted in Vacuo for the Great Diamond Heist and the arson of one of their casinos.

She tracked the growing sweatdrop on Qrow's temple as Neo was accused of conspiracy to embarrass a Councilmember by use of jam and a feather, a massive traffic jam resulting in deaths throughout the largest of Vale's metropolitan area, bringing a Grimm into a military base, the abduction of prisoners of war, and the deaths of three random people who fell off a bridge.

A secondary list needed to be made to break the page into manageable and readable chunks, and only contained even more elaborate charges.

She was also accused of being involved in the kidnapping of Vale's first princess infant, the deaths of all of the Atlesian Generals (including those still alive), the disappearance of Headmistress Kaldwin (who still ruled over Haven Academy), the destruction of the Remnant Throne, the assassination of the Vacuoan Wastelands Queen, the Great War, the odd geography of Cassus, the sinking of the Atlesian Aircraft Carrier Darkholme, the mysterious deaths of several prostitutes in Vacuo, blackmailing Spymaster Qrow, killing a man on a train headed east very quickly, the disappearance of the Frost Baby, the bombing of another abandoned fountain, running a crime ring out of an exclusive Mistral hotel, the discovery of Dust, leading the First Brigade (and the Last Brigade), the Menagerie Secession, dancing about while wearing a silly outfit, the domestication of the bullhead, the existence of Faunus, bedazzling a Hunter statue belonging to Vale's first and now destroyed Academy, the failed colony of Cassus, the failure of satelites, stealing weaponry from every armory, the invention of roleplaying games, the House break-in, the massacre at Mt. Glenn, the crash of the global stock market, the crash of the Atlesian stock market, the Mistral Fire, moonshine, the fall of Remnant's King, the burning of a message from Vacuo, the sinking of a castle into a swamp, the building of a castle on top of two sunken castles, the Big Bang, the separating of Pangea, lies, statistics, fooling the King into going nude, modern art, postmodern art, the Black Plague, electro-swing, environmentalism, right-side driving, importation of coffee, the invention of Apple, the creation of the Vacuoan Desert, pineapple on pizza, lite beer, Original Sin, theft of Fire from the gods, and Ozpin's recent head cold.

"That's… a hell of a list." Most of these crimes were laughably hilarious and blatantly inserted as a joke to any arresting officer that could identify Neo, but some of these tickled the wrong bone in his body, especially given her list of crimes started either before or during the Great War, but she looked barely older than Yang.

The one about her blackmailing him threw him wildly, wondering if any of his informants were actually her in disguise and whether she'd inadvertently blackmailed him by withholding or feeding certain information.

Blake's silence as she examined the list made his reading much worse and he desperately hoped she was just being her quiet usual self and wasn't screwing with him for her amusement.

"And you think the woman that broke into this base is this Neo?" He resisted the urge to slap Blake for the 'duh' expression on her face, pulling up the photograph of the woman and Neo's most recent surveillance photograph, matching the condescending smile they both wore. They also shared the same hair parting, and same face and eye shape, but those trait combinations could well be found on many of Vale's denizens. "So why does she want your attention?"

As much as Tai liked to call him an idiot behind his back, something to do with camaraderie and good-natured ribbing, he was anything but… except for the many times he did impulsive things like leave Ruby, Tai, and Yang, and accidentally ask Winter out on a date, both situations resolving well enough in his opinion.

Neo wanted Beacon's attention, but she couldn't appear on Beacon's campus because of several reasons, most likely due to either a lack of ability, which he doubted or due to the entire campus being on lockdown with sensors strewn across to catch any non-registered Aura. She also wasn't after Ozpin's attention or she would've strolled brazenly into Beacon despite her wanted status, and he could only conclude he was after Team RWBY's attention due to their reappearance from administrative leave.

The only question that begged an answer was how she knew about the protocols surrounding the impersonation of Commander, and how she knew RWBY had reappeared again, nothing ever getting cataloged in the system because Ozpin refused to give them a paper trail. He could only conclude she either knew the inner machinations of Commander-level documents, so he'd have to throttle Ozpin, or Ruby told her.

"Ruby kept her in limited confidence when she had a use for her." So that answered that annoying question that he likened to a screensaver logo bouncing around in the endless dark, only to multiply into a colliding swarm that gave him no rest from the encroaching headache.

Now he wanted to know what Ruby needed a highly and widely skilled and discreet professional when she already walked around committing murders and plotting to manipulate the highest political office in Vale.

Those were action he couldn't, or rather, chose not to think about lest the office of the Commander be sullied even further than the low it already sat at, both Ruby's, and Ozpin's, actions speaking of shadow responsibilities they undertook to protect their people.

It wasn't all bad, he rationalized after a moment of clarity. It wasn't like they were running secret subdivisions, making questionable expenses, or keeping secrets from their Hunters, every single action they took written down in at least a paper format for accountability and history.

Every mission, including Mountain Glenn, and even the mission against Jacques Schnee, was written and logged into the respective section of the library, access granted to everyone above a certain rank.

Several Hunters had accessed the Glenn records and discovered the harrowing reality of the situation behind the existence of their new base, and wisely kept quiet because of the clout Ruby had wrapped around her and the position, begrudgingly accepting her actions were necessary to protect her people from a worse horror.

Still yet, a braver few had dared request access to the Black Ops records locked behind the approval of the current spymaster or Commander, and much to his ire, Ozpin had waved a hand and granted it.

He had been waiting for the inevitable clusterstorm of a PR disaster to slam into Beacon with the Council swooping in with the full might of the military behind them to uproot them from the Academy and completely install a new version of the Hunters, only to sit back in a stupor as the sheer loyalty breed into their people kept them from doing little more than quietly asking their professors and superiors questions about their Fourth's moral and ethical leanings.

That shouldn't have come as much of a surprise as even Raven had remained loyal to the cause of protecting humanity despite her abandonment of Beacon. He was also a good example since he rarely ever saw action, spied on people, and complained to Ozpin all the time, yet here he remained, willingly keeping secrets.

Even now he followed along behind Blake as she lead him out of the administrative building and out to the hangars, typing away and sending off messages to her other team members. He similarly shot off a message to let Ozpin know where he was going, with who, who he was meeting, and why along with a short rant about Neo.

He snapped his scroll in twain when Ozpin replied with a thumbs-up emoji, with him giving Blake command. Qrow fielded a questioning look from Blake when she also got a similar but more worded response. She dealt with enough of Weiss' and Ruby's eccentricities to ignore Ozpin's brand of uniqueness and command.

Yang and Weiss were already waiting for them within the hanger, both of them slotting fire Dust fuel rods into the split engine containers of the Ruby, the name of the ship making him smile sadly. The metallic and dark coating of it along with the flarings around the jet engine denoted it as a stealth fighter, especially with the enormous rotary cannon under the nose.

It was also ridiculously streamlined and smaller compared to the standard bullhead flown by Hunters. The dual propulsion system meant it was agile, but the engines mounted towards the rear rather than under the wing meant it could serve as a nimble strike craft. It was a significant improvement over the aging transport craft, but it looked hopelessly expensive to mass-produce.

"I can see you three were busy during your break. Love the new ship. Kinda don't know about naming it after her though." He walked the length of the craft, feeling the uneven radiation absorbent material under his fingers, designed to absorb radar waves through dielectric composites. Further electronic countermeasures sat just below the skin, further obscuring the footprint on any detection system. He made his way over to Yang, stopping just behind her as she finished plugging in the last cell.

She already knew what was coming, a glimmering red shield pulsing around her face as she tanked a punch. Qrow recoiled, first in surprise, and then in pain as the full force of his attack was returned to him directly. He winced as he shifted his knuckles back to their correct alignments, looking up from his bent over position to see Yang frowning grimly, no worse for wear.

"I thought you of all people would've read the dossiers on me." She yanked his hand from his grip and slammed enough Aura into it to regenerate nerve damage, not even feeling the drain on her massive pool before the regeneration kicked in.

"Ozpin has your profiles so filled with unimaginable triumphs that I can't figure out what's true and not." She pulled out her scroll and tabbed over to her profile, carefully glancing over at the golden S-rank now attributed to her name. She shifted the view to the public database and found the same profile, complete with their entire declassified mission record.

"Blake." Yang barked out to the Faunus, who'd disappeared into the fuselage to perform a final check on the limited supplies Ruby had mandated they keep on their ship at all times. The smaller quarters made them realize how little they could carry on missions, but the lack of having to carry Bumblebee, due to all of them now possessing Ruby's Semblance, meant they could carry that much more Dust and ammunition. "Did you know about this?"

Blake caught the scroll thrown her way and read through her leader's profile, blanching as she came across her involvement in creating and managing the pro-Faunus propaganda, planning the assassination of Jacques Schnee, participating in the cleansing of Mountain Glenn, and the mercy killing of Commander Ruby Rose.

Absolutely everything, from both their dimensions, was properly filed in their respective categories.

Offenses against Faunus already painted them as righteous vigilantes seeking vengeance for the fall of Beacon, but the offenses against Atlas and Mistral, and especially against their people made them villains abusing their positions of authority to wage an unsanctioned war with no casus belli.

The Hunter Agreement on Cassus and the start of the Lockdown War improved their position considerably among their peers, especially given they were trying to prevent the civil war between Faunus and humans from escalating as the Fang moved in, all on top of the humongous threat of the Atlesian Navy patrolling the sea between them.

Ruby had moved a dozen teams to support Mistral to prevent their civil war, scattering the rest of her forces across the most important defensive chokepoints, forcing the Council's military to focus on defending the borders rather than mounting aerial offensives with their numerous strike crafts.

Every single mission and every detail with it was spread across their profiles.

Ruby, holding the moniker Death, alone was attributed to the destruction of the four Councils, hunting down the guilty in their steel mountaintops and ripping them from their safe abodes, holding every one of them personally accountable for the terrible wars that embroiled the planet.

She, nicknamed Pestilence, got credit for hunting down Adam's officers and eventually helping restart a cross-continental communications system based on the defunct CCTS towers by stealing the source codes from all three other towers. Also for running interference against the military's chain of command and reducing their operational capacity down to a guerilla force.

Weiss' Semblance, more than the user herself, was accredited with the largest losses of life incurred during the war, both taking out the Atlesian Navy slinging around hundreds of razor-sharp glyphs to sing dozens of cruisers and decimate the flotilla as they entered the Bay of Vale in a desperate push to establish a landing ground within the city.

She was Famine, the force unyielding that starved her enemies from escape, unrelenting.

And Yang, she held the esteemed and venerable title of War, the master of the most destructive Semblance, able to annihilate continents off the map when allowed to spread along a supermassive glyph. She was the threat Death wielded against her enemies, tearing them down.

Accredited with the Battle of District 117M, the only point where Grimm had ever pierced the outer walls and threatened the inner ones. The military had long abandoned their base there, leaving the Hunters to fill the gap in the defenses, loss after loss incurring with no end in sight until even Ruby had fallen and Weiss had to literally drag her off the field.

Yang had held the perimeter at the last defensive wall before the district proper alone, buying time for Weiss and Blake to usher the last of their injured Hunters into bullheads and take them back to Glenn, the two simultaneously having to keep Ruby restrained to prevent her from running into the horde of Grimm with a malfunctioning scythe and no Aura reserves.

Her defense had been legendary, no Grimm able to stand within twenty meters of the glowing ball of Aura that blocked their way forward. Her flames had seared the land, shattering Grimm plating and stripping Grimm flesh. Indomitable and unstoppable, the wrecking ball that ended the might of the Grimm horde that had built up on the northern tip of Sanus.

Blooded soldiers tested time after time in war, deemed worthy to be branded as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the defunct Bible, but even these incarnations were helpless when the Primordials descended from the Heavens and judged the inhabitants of the planet unworthy, unfettered and rampant darkness tainting the hearts of billions.

Even Death's sacrifice did nothing but fell one of the great beasts, the Four forced to activate their last plan and escape the condemned planet before it was wiped entirely of life.

And as much as she wanted to blame Salem as the goddess she was for managing the creation of Grimm, it was humanity's fault for succumbing to their basest and darkest desires and allowing for their creation in the first place.

Fuck. Yang translated on the fly for the poor spymaster as Blake returned to her personalized one-handed language before disappearing into the cockpit, the lights of Ruby flashing on as she accessed the mainframe and read through the log reports tied to their profiles.

A loud thud echoed out from the ship as Blake slammed a fist into something thick and metal, a hoarse curse following suite. Anyone A-rank and above can request access to them. Blake answered, stepping back out of the fuselage and handing Yang back her scroll, a list of those that had received access on display.

"Spin up." Yang practically threw Qrow into the ship, Weiss pressing the button to close the ramp door behind them. "The moment Pyrrha figures out we've returned is the moment we have to face the general Hunter public."

"She accessed the files?" Weiss asked for clarification, strapping into a pilot's seat and verifying their takeoff clearance, getting rushed through with barely more than a muttered reply from the controller. The hangar roof slid open far too slowly for her liking as the turbines lifted Ruby off the ground and they barely slipped through.

"Ozpin got multiple requests from her per day. She was the first to gain access the moment they were declassified, the Headmaster pulling her into a private meeting." Yang read off the log transcript, glancing over the other two hundred or so A-ranks that also received clearance. "And get this, they were declassified yesterday, the moment we touched back down onto Vale."

"Ozpin did this?" Qrow stood resting against the aircraft's inner walls, unable to access any further records with his now mangled scrolls. He'd have to send Ozpin an invoice for a new one once he got access to a computer.

"No." Yang instantly replied, three steps ahead of Qrow. While he was playing checkers, she was playing 4D chess, slowly piecing together the parts that made up the giant board they called Remnant. She took over the main hard light projection system and threw her scroll onto it, showing the last database access that could even think to touch records buried so deep. "Someone accessed the root directory and changed our records using Ruby's codes."

"Neo." Weiss finished for her, pulling up the image of the impossibly innocent-looking brown-haired and brown-eyed doe sitting in solitary within the military base of 16M. Qrow whistled at the incredibly expensive projection system streaming down images to the center console. "She's playing us. Drawing us out."

"But for what? She knows how strong we are and I'm fairly sure she could take down the three of us with her hands tied behind her back while spinning a hula hoop and singing an opera in perfect pitch." Yang shifted the center console to display the section of Vale they were flying over. "Only Ozpin could hope to match her and she's avoiding Beacon for that reason."

"Hold it. You're telling me Ozpin, the man who last saw action back in 55, can match a woman who can take three S-ranks at once and still win?" Qrow laughed at his proposition. "No one has that power."

No one replied to his comment for a long time, making Qrow cough once to get them to say something. He coughed much more exaggeratedly when they didn't reply immediately, paling at the implication of a mercenary able to walk around with such impunity.

Blake finally spun around in her chair. No, Neo's avoiding Ozpin because they have a long and tragic romance. She's just avoiding him to screw with him. Qrow gagged a little as he tried to imagine Ozpin and Neo together after Yang translated her sentence.

'So what? A superpowered merc with a thing for our Headmaster is baiting you to a meeting because..?" Qrow trailed off once he got his point across, getting blank looks from all three of them. "Oh yeah, and let's not forget she somehow has access to Ruby's still active Commander codes. I thought you knew Ozpin and her. Didn't you know them in your alternate dimension?"

"Know? If you think Ozpin is a cagey old timer then just multiply him by ten to get close to what Neo keeps to herself." Yang replied, pulling up images of Ozpin and Neo and displaying them side by side. "They're grandmasters with unimaginable power and skill behind them. Ruby might've known some of these answers but she had limits."

Qrow motioned for her to keep going with her explanation. Ruby was a mythical figure to him at this point, the only High Commander to exist in modern times, a master tactician on the field, and an alternately sane psychopath that ruled with an iron fist over her Hunters.

"Ruby, because of what she was, saw the world differently. Her blank personality allowed her to see and absorb everything around her without preconceptions or assumptions, but she also foolishly assumed we could as well, and those were implicit thoughts we didn't know." Qrow frowned at Yang's explanation, not remembering any of this mentioned within Mercy's psych reports on the woman.

It wasn't arrogance on Ruby's part but a flaw in her thinking. She had the power and the will to wield it, but her suffering made her differently perfect in her own manner, a being created to lead the Hunters, alone. She fought with a team because her old persona fought with one and it made her stronger, but he could also believe she wanted to fight it out alone to protect them as a perfect Hunter.

"Then what is the worst possible reason for her calling you out here?" Qrow posed the question, believing he already had the answer to that. As much as he wanted to believe they weren't lying to him, he severely doubted one woman could take three similarly classed Aura users and walk away unharmed. His own Semblance would even the battlefield out further.

"To let us know Ruby's plans failed," Weiss answered hoarsely after a moment of reflection. "Everything Ruby worked for, everything she sacrificed for, and everything she died for is nothing if the Fang doesn't assault the Colosseum, and Neo working with the Fang's primary supplier in Vale gives us an insight into their plans."

Qrow quickly ran through his known contacts within the underworld, his monthly updates with Juniors keeping him well apprised of the kingpins within the different illegal supply chains around Vale. Only two people dealt in mass weapons trafficking and with one of them being in organized crime, striking a tenuous balance with law enforcement, it only left one. "Roman Torchwick? He's a small-time trafficker, barely a blip on my radar. Why would an S-rank attach herself to him?"

And he knew it wasn't the other way around. Roman, while small, wasn't an idiot. Working with an S-rank criminal would've brought hell down on his operation, but seeing as there was currently only one S-ranked criminal, thankfully, her status as one wasn't exactly publicly known. It was more to protect the reputation of the four countries and tamp down on fear since the military could in no way respond to such a threat.

Weiss and Yang shared a look, making Qrow chuckle as a possible reason hit him.

"Wait, no no no no no. You're not about to tell me Ruby asked her to do this?" Yang shook her head at the accusation, again sharing a look with her two underlings "Ruby was barely a child when Roman started."

"No…" Yang started slowly, unsure of how to broach the topic of shadow war hidden behind the seat of the Commander and the Mother of Grimm.

Ozpin would deny it, probably, but he also had a track record for throwing him for a loop so he could just as easily admit to everything.

Ruby was dead so nothing she said mattered anyway, and how that thought still gnawed at him.

And Neo wouldn't care because only Ruby and Ozpin could glean anything from the psychopath and even that was in doubt.

"Neo is an agent for the White Fang's primary benefactor and only works by Roman's side at her behest to smooth any hiccups, a being Ozpin refers to as Queen, and Ruby as Mother." That last bit startled Qrow more than everything else, his Ruby only ever referring to Summer as such.

Raven hadn't received that honor either despite the two making up well enough for the older woman to switch loyalties completely and kneel to Ruby's reign. She couldn't bring her people, her clan from Vacuo, with her, but having another skilled and talented S-rank with a versatile and dangerous Semblance that could infiltrate and exfiltrate better than Blake on Ritalin more than made up for the loss in manpower.

"And who is this being?" Qrow spat viciously, the idea his Commanders keeping secrets from their spymaster of all people grating on him more than Ruby calling another person her mom. To think that another being beyond Neo could slip his radar, someone Ruby would grace with a name beyond her own.

But even Neo made blips on the radar, going back at least a decade if he knew where to look. The military, law enforcement, and the four Hunter factions had records of people like her but rarely accessed them due to their jurisdictional limits; just because the Hunters possessed the means to combat her didn't mean they had to intervene.

It was the primary point of contention between Commander Qrow and Ruby, his alternate choosing to lock the countries down, and while Ruby did much the same during her tenure, she was much less hesitant to go and personally intervene with rule breakers.

And this he gleaned from the half dozen declassified reports authored by Team RWBY as means of recreating their past and preventing any errors from lack of oversight or detail forgetfulness.

That slippery slope he and Ruby danced around didn't exist for the latter. Completely unable to weight sentimental values, her heavy-handed, but unbiased judgment meant that not even Hunters could escape her.

Her war hadn't been a zero-sum game where her enemies' losses were her gain, but a pyrrhic war of attrition. Every loss on the field was a tally mark against their odds of survival as Grimm spawn rate increased, and so, in her perfect thinking, she split the battlefield between black and white.

For or against humanity.

And it was what gave them a year and a half of survival after her rehabilitation... before the might of all of humanity's negative aspects coalesced and ended the war.

"Her secrecy is maintained to prevent the Hunters of the world from declaring a vendetta against as a primary belligerent." Yang rattled off with care, her voice hitching slightly. It wasn't an important piece of their story for the one time they dared tangle with her out in the open.

A deep throbbing glow from the weapon on her back shone over her shoulder, helping chase away the deep fear settling in her bones.

"All the Hunters?" Yang nodded. He looked over her other two teammates, Weiss and Blake nodded in agreement. He sat back against his seat in a stupor, in deep thought for several moments. "Ours, Atlas', everyone, together? That hasn't happened since the Great War, and that only happened partially during your war because of a global threat to humanity."

"The Mother of All Grimm," Weiss whispered loud enough for her voice to echo around the cockpit, her foot bouncing nervously as she rested her forehead against the pommel of Myrtenaster, blue eyes gazing off into the distance.

Qrow scoffed at the notion of one being being in charge of the Grimm. Weiss didn't dare meet his questioning gaze, hands trembling perceptibly as they held tight onto her weapon. He looked over to Yang, watching her tightly hold onto her new scythe to the point her knuckles turned white.

And Blake... she resolutely looked back at him and nodded slowly.

There was no real indication she was having the similar reactions that plagued her teammates other than her shuddering ears. Perhaps it was because she was a clone, or perhaps it was because she didn't have the same frontline presence as the others.

"Oh yeah sure, first Neo and Ruby are working together and now there's someone that can control Grimm." He pushed his hair back and leaned back in his seat. Harbinger sat by his side, a trusty and steadfast weapon that saw him through the Revolution, a time of petty infighting and bloodshed, but against what was essentially a deity? "Okay, so… what do you do against her?"

"Against her?" The stupid question snapped Yang from her thoughts, the warmth from her scythe pushing the last of her shivers away. "Nothing, but you at least now know most of the information kept from you so you can do your job properly again, and 'cause you were starting to twitch the same way Blake does when she can't figure out a piece of the puzzle."

He clamped down on the twitch traveling down his arm, unaware he had such a tic to begin with. Blake flashed a quick sign of camaraderie to confirm Yang's words as Yang sat down on Weiss' armrest and started to calm the girl down, carding his fingers through her hair, quietly cooing and shushing to get through the noise in her ears.

"There's…" Blake started to speak but a few sick and rough coughs her and forced her to stop and massage her vocal cords. She sat down more comfortably in her seat, frowning all the while and staring down solemnly at her weapon, picking at the edge to clean the imaginary dirt under her nails.

"There's nothing we can do against her… " Weiss again whispered out, trembling less violently. Her hair was now tinged with sweat, her eyes unfocused and wild, darting around as she took everything around her. Her breathing leveled out from her soft hiccuping gasps and she gently pushed Yang's caresses away, sending her a short and sweet smile in thanks. She took another deep breath to steady herself before continuing. "Salem is not a direct threat to the Hunters, despite her role and status."

Qrow filed the being's name away for future reference, looking over the three of them. All of them were S-ranks in their own right, Yang and Weiss even reaching the fabled rank of SS, and to see them shake in fear at the mention of a person's name.

"You're talking about someone who can control Grimm." Qrow clarified, leaning forward with a glint in his eye. He spoke with near fervor, almost bouncing in his seat. "If we can take her out, then…" His eyes widened, at the possibility of ending the ongoing war of attrition against the Grimm, at finally ushering in peace.

Blake leaned forward and thumped him resolutely on the back of his head.

"Our operation against her was never written down for one, and only one, reason." Yang berated him like a mother might a child when she noticed Weiss start trembling again, going back to help her through this attack. They were new and debilitating, but had specific triggers, making them somewhat manageable. "Because the last time the four of us tried to eliminate her, we were lucky to limp out alive."

Yang stepped from her place beside Weiss to lean over Qrow, bracing against the back of the seat with her right hand and making her curls curtain around her face to cast her in shadow.

Qrow audibly gulped when her eyes started glowing a penetrating vermilion, roiling with the untapped strength of her Semblance. "You don't know what it's like to watch one person rip you and yours apart with nary a thought and we were lucky she granted us escape from her pocket dimension after Ruby begged her for it." She hissed out harshly and slammed his chair back to make sure he got the message, retreating. "Her very existence is an S-ranked secret, and none of your business."

He suppressed the shiver traveling through his spine, his instincts keeping his mouth shut as he processed the implied order from his ranked superior. As long as Ozpin knew about her, and what didn't the old coot know, he didn't have a reason to go after her, especially given she defeated four S-ranks handily.

"So what does Salem want with the Fang? You mentioned a balance struck?" Yang sighed, releasing the last of her commanding presence with a flash of Aura. She picked up her wife and placed her down on her lap, continuing her ministrations. She tucked her head into her shoulder and filled Qrow in on the missing history from their profiles.

Blake slotted in earplugs indiscreetly enough for Yang to notice and lost herself in one of Ruby's journals, taking solace in her late wife's handwriting. It wasn't one of her originals, all but one lost after the first jump, and that sole one lost due to Salem and Ozpin's machinations.

No, this one was an insanely condensed version written by her to make sure her perfect memories couldn't fade, and as redundant as that might've sounded, they lacked a distinctly human element. When she wrote, she wrote in the style of a report, impeccably focused on details and the objective, each section devoted to a mission.

There was no flourish, no cute little annotations or doodles like Weiss liked to draw when she got bored and no heavy weighted strokes, underlines or curses so common to Yang. It was clinical, sterile, and devoid of anything but the necessities.

Still, it was what little she had left and what little she had let her ignore the slew of curses coming out of Qrow's dirty mouth that made it through her noise deflectors, but then again, she only did plug her human ears. Her feline ones still swiveled to and fro, picking up every little sound and she could do nothing to stop the noise.

Downsides of being a Faunus.

She noticed his changing expressions throughout the story Yang wove, switching rapidly between pale and tight-lipped to stone-faced and short tale of the balance between Ozpin and Salem, between light and dark, humanity and Grimm, a game of Go between deities where everyone else was the stones.

She correctly guessed the large question sitting in the pit of his throat, feeling chuffed when he asked why the two beings chose to sit it out on the sidelines when they could've been slugging it out for supremacy. Yang quickly asked him what would be left of Remnant if two thermonuclear weapons and he promptly shut up, earning a raspy chuckle from her.

Again, she coughed roughly at the strain to her voice, further exacerbating them in the process. She confirmed the worse of her worries as she passed air over them sharply enough to trigger her chords, soothing the pain away with a blast of warm Aura. Yang carefully watched her out of the corner of her eyes, making note of the rapidly closing time frame between events.

The somatic pain of their war injuries wasn't new, but Ruby's death only reminded them of their mortality, the flesh and bone protected by Aura shield and glyphs. Her passing did something to them, restoring some connection to their previous bodies; the same software, complete with scars and losses, running on brand new hardware.

But their minds didn't have the built-in security modern hardware did, unable to tell the difference between an injury that hadn't occurred yet and an injury that wasn't supposed to be there in the first place.

Yang liked to hide that it affected her, mimicking Ruby's penchant to do the same, but her main job was observing the unobservable. She couldn't hide the increasing amount of twitches passing down her arm whenever she used it, her body remembering what it would sustain in a couple of weeks.

She saw one twitch as she brushed at Weiss' hair, caressing the pristine flesh of her future gruesome scar. That injury only came out to play when she ate, Weiss poking the area with her tongue where she once needed to have skin grafted on so she could drink or swim.

Annoying little things they were, reminding them of a past they ran from, only for it to creep up behind them after the worst moment of their lives. She idly switched the autopilot into descend mode before it could warn the cockpit of their arrival, seeing no sense in interrupting the cuddling pair, at least for the next five minutes.

She pulled over the headset and transmitted her identification codes, pulling over her headset and responding to the flurry of directions and confirmations with her return flurry of morse code, knowing that that'd be relatively confused by the different character encoding but she trusted they'd figure it out.

Not all of the military grunts were idiots, just their command structure.

Turning in her seat, she transferred control over to her joysticks and cruised them down into their directed them down onto a landing pad, the vertical engines taking over and shifting the primary thrust vector away from the ground to prevent a fiery explosion of Dust. Yang finally moved when the wheels thudded down, prodding Weiss off her lap.

The girl, for what else could she be called, curled in on herself, looking incredibly small, far more than her usual size called for. She refused to look up from the floor, frazzled eyes looking around and past the metal floor. Her hands played with the orange scarf wrapped around her waist, constantly fidgeting and picking at the hem, unable to figure out what to do with them.

Blake grabbed Myrtenaster from where it rested against the seat and slug into onto her back, her magnet holding it in place. She then stepped up to her teammates and pulled her into a hug, holding the aforementioned girl tight in her hold. She rubbed her lower back a few times, slipping a hand under the pouch containing Rei's gem, and helped her stand with her back straight, snagging her hand and pulling her out of the ship.

Yang and Qrow peddled after, the blonde leader wearing a stupid smile on her face. It infected her uncle, the man cracking a wide grin to match hers.

There was something ephemeral about watching two former and opposite archetypes walk hand in hand.

Technically one was dragging the other, the heiress a near limpet with barely a bounce in her step to keep up with the speeding Faunus lest her arm come ripping out of her shoulder. She carefully made sure none of that would happen or she'd have an angry physical letter sent of her by the care of Ozpin.

The non-digital kind complete with catnip just to make sure she couldn't claw his ass into oblivion on the subsequent high.

The pair grew a small following by the time they made it to what looked like the main foyer, slipping in quietly. The lack of a uniform almost had them stopped by the grunts milling around, making the correct assumption they were allowed to be there in the first place.

By the time they made it up to the main desk, Weiss lost the tired and broken wanderer persona and gained a shade of her former radiance, hair a tad bouncier and less frazzled, eyes less wild and losing the temporary shadows and wrinkles under them.

Beaming up at the receptionist, Blake presented her scroll for identification. The man at the desk barely looked up from his work before her profile appeared on the display, her current name, rank, and Command association coming up. Weiss handed hers over almost shyly, similar information popping up, the reason for their visit becoming apparent.

Another window joined their images with Neo's current form on it.

The man waved aside Qrow's credentials when he scanned them in, Blake and her team holding more respect as the deposed Command of the Hunters than the loner. He tutted annoying, Yang slugging him painfully and making him wince at the unintended force she put behind it.

It wasn't like punching Weiss' ever permanent personal shield system that could tank those hits, albeit with some difficulty, or her system where she could phase out of her body and have a clone take it.

Not to mention she could use either of her new Semblances to avoid it entirely or send it right back to the sender.

Her merry group got ushered over to a connecting wing, everything painted with the same monotonous and boorish beige or another dull office color. The most interesting art piece on the wall was an unusually long cracked that ran from the corner of the foyer to the prison block, impressively weaving up and down, left and right in an unbroken line.

Neo greeted them with a cheery wave from her place handcuffed to the metal table. She knew those feeble metal restraints would never hold her if this was the actual Neo anyway. There was a perfectly good chance she was hiding under an illusion in the corner of the room and controlling a corporeal illusion.

Her hard light Semblance caused a lot of issues, and they were only theoretical issues her one limited mind could think of rather than the ones she couldn't even comprehend.

The escorting officer incorrectly assumed they'd want to sit down and interrogate the suspect, taking a seat and mentally preparing whatever tactic he was going to use on her, but Blake just leaned over his shoulder and deftly signed on the chain of custody document to release Neo into their care.

He briefly protested until Neo broke the handcuffs by simply pulling them apart, her pink parasol appearing out of a haze of mirror shards. The moment she touched the handle the rest of her illusion came apart, sloughing off of her in spades to reveal the familiar mercenary they all knew and somewhat loved but also simultaneously somewhat hated.

She'd call it family, or camaraderie.

And of course, Neo couldn't resist blowing a kiss at the bemused and confused soldier, his entire head turning and twitching ever so slightly until he was entirely askew.

Their new guest found the same crack much more interesting than the shenanigans of the soldiers they parted as they exited the main building. Yang and Qrow made for very imposing figures with their paired piercing crimson eyes, staring down until they made it through the front door.

That was all the way she got before she collapsed into a fit of giggles, Neo joining in after a moment in her own version, silent and creepy. Blake joined in after a beat of silence by pressing a laugh track on her scroll, filling the sound component for them both. Even Weiss got in on the giddiness, suffocating a laugh under the palm of her hand.

Her eyes filled with unbridled mirth, the sick and pale sky of her panic attack deepening into a facsimile of a glacial iceberg dancing under the boreal lights.

It was always amusing to see the masses split at the mystical powers of Aura, the public kept ignorant at their own unwillingness to learn more about their protectors. They didn't need to understand the intricacies of the lives of the Hunters, just understand they were there for them, and to serve as sources of entertainment during the biennial Vytal Festival.

Another example of the trusty old saying that ignorance really was bliss.

"Okay, we've had our laughs, well, more like you've had your laugh." Yang directed at Neo, pressing open the Ruby and stepping back into the ship. The mercenary whistled, clearly impressed at the modified bullhead, scanning over both the exterior and interior design as she came in through. "Now why did you drag us out here?"

Neo stepped up to Yang, the size difference between the two becoming impressively apparent. Her form rippled under the pressure Yang released on her, an automatic response to the dense covering of shields that perpetually surrounded her. She leaned around the built woman and touched the scythe in its cradle, a pulse of vermilion tinting the fuselage.

"That?" Blake's eyebrows shot up into her hairline, Yang's eyes flashing back to their birth amethyst for a moment.

Neo then moved over to Weiss and pointed at the gem kept in Weiss' possession. Weiss instantly clamped a hand onto the pouch where it rested, Neo pulling back her finger in exaggerated pain where she got it batted aside, sucking on it while glaring at her height equal.

"And why are we giving you these?" Yang negotiated in return, succeeding in keeping her voice level and the tone of incredulity out of it. Her gauntlets auto-reloaded at a pulse of Aura, the sound painfully loud in the enclosed space. She silenced Qrow with a hard look, her uncle looking ready to fight tooth and nail for Ruby's scythe to remain in their possession.

The answer only became more complicated when Neo drew her rapier and inspected it in the low light before twirling it elegantly and offering it, handle first, to her.

* * *

 **AN:** Happy Birthday to the late High Commander!


	30. Rise

Chapter Thirty

* * *

 **\- Memories -**

 **Rise**

* * *

Vacuo was a unique Kingdom.

In terms of population and landmass, it eclipsed the other three with ease, but these were the only categories the Kingdom could claim supremacy.

Originally the birthplace of Qrow and Raven, the desert paradise offered only a few opportunities to escape the slums. Chief among them was joining the enormous Hunter system responsible for overseeing the protection of the citizens in their care.

Other opportunities revolved around entering the highly profitable but cutthroat gambling scene where the wealthiest of Remnant went to blow through millions of Lien and add to the festering corruption within.

It was the primary reason why Vacuo had to boast the largest Hunter population, having to not only keep the ravenous Grimm hordes from tearing into the flimsy slums of the outskirt districts but also to maintain order when the underfunded law enforcement system couldn't.

"I'm surprised the Grimm haven't overrun this cesspool yet." Summer voiced her thoughts aloud, utterly overrun with the emotions of despair, desperation, and haunting hopelessness as they passed into the first districts of the country after making the run across the Sanus Sea. "There's nothing but misery here."

She stroked Weiss' hair, the woman having had fallen limp on her lap after their emotionally-charged hug. She nuzzled fiercely in her hold, prompting Summer to start up her petting again. "How bad is it down there?" Weiss sluggishly yawned out.

"Dark." Summer stated, her senses spread thin to brush along the top of the landscape as their bullhead roared down towards Haven Academy. There was little light against the miasma of pulsing lust, greed, and envy; pinpricks of virtue lost in the sea of sin.

A ball of pure white slammed into her outermost shell when they made their final approach into the Academy, pointing her to the source of an extra-mortal Aura. She winced in Weiss' hold, overwhelmed by the utter pureness coursing through it, untempered but bound to human form.

But that was only one of the reasons they were here and she forced down a growl at the assumption she based her search on: that Raven would ignore a part of her life that held prominence for over a decade. Of course, she'd make her base of operations near the Academy and CCTS Tower, for how else could she continue to live as a protector?

Her people needed her, but Headmaster Kaldwin wouldn't hesitate to use the only S-rank in her territory, trading away the vaunted protection status of a Hunter for the prestige of commanding her.

Quantity over quality was Kaldwin's approach, so it made sense she wouldn't advertise Raven's presence for Summer to locate. She took what she could get, attempting to bring order and protect her people in a lawless place so, despite Raven being wanted in Beacon, she'd keep her hidden for her country's gain.

She'd be having words with the Headmaster the moment they touched down and she was going to abuse her nightmarish eyes to ensure her cooperation. She pulled down her blindfold as Yang set their ship down, tightening it down to rest comfortably around her neck.

Weiss instantly fidgeted on her lap and almost leaped up to a stand, a glyph materializing between the pair of them on instinct. The spark and hum of energy didn't surprise her and she used the constructed barricade to pull herself up. That omnipresent and magnificent pressure returned when she finally opened her eyes, filling the enclosed compartment and pressing down on her teammates' cores.

Yang's cores took the pressure and turned it back into itself, generating more Aura to throw at the user's defenses and her core parts actually resonated in return to amplify the pressure, the sense of dread and terror rising and forcing the other two cores to coalesce onto themselves.

It wasn't fear that drove them down but the automatic servitude when faced with their superior. Their cores still fought against the effects in their own way, Yang's fragment releasing pulses of blistering warm scorch spots, Weiss' creeping out biting cold in piercing cracks, and Blake's corrupting shadows tinting any area left.

Ruby's just refused to budge.

The blunt end of a knife put an end to the oppression, pinging off a crimson glyph when it tried to impact Summer's forehead. Her new and far less taxing method of shielding got a raised eyebrow from Weiss, the familiar design of her protection method evident. Another glyph asserted itself on top of Rei's gem, shimmering away into invisibility after connecting back to Weiss.

"Trying to take my job?" Weiss chuckled and resheathed Myrtenaster to her back. The long rapier didn't exactly have a comfortable position to rest on while sitting, forcing her to remove it. She could hang it on her waist but then it would bang around when she ran so that left either a top or bottom draw.

The job she spoke of was her role as team support and overwatch, never engaging in direct battle but protecting them with glyphs from above. She was responsible for chaining glyphs around their limbs, like plate metal, but infinitely more durable and lighter.

Their flying little guardian, or midget if you asked Yang.

Their Angel.

She was charged with one job when on the field: to make sure she kept a single glyph on the back of each of her teammates, an anchor for her to track where they were when in her field of influence and a spawning point for any further glyphs that needed to be spawned.

Without the first one then she'd have to not only manage both the field and the position of her teammates, which already strained the breaking point of her mind when trying to manage only one other person but also have to react to anything her teammates depended on her for, such as walls and traps.

It was like trying to play Starcraft without the function keys and the minimap.

Those critical glyphs allowed her to extend the reach of her Aura to the constant three on the fields, Yang acting as the primary node because of her ability to move Aura between combatants and Ruby and Blake dancing in the backlines, further allowing her to wreak havoc with her Semblance.

Though now with her new Semblances she could further make any battlefield inhospitable, able to lock it down and tear and/or blow it apart depending on which she needed. Her railgun combination still needed to be condensed and the control fine-tuned.

Yang didn't let her hear the end of that one, especially not after a patrol over the Sanus Mountains when she'd declared her control over her Semblance was nigh perfect. That boast promptly ended in a cataclysmic explosion after she'd imbibed one beer and lost control of her Semblance after pushing her upper limit of two-hundred.

That mountain had lost a couple of meters in height after the dust settled, and she'd resolved to get her control up to par for anything after that, only to have a Ruby shaped wrecking ball come through and split up her Aura and tear away her pride and joy.

She shoved aside that memory after it started to resemble melancholy, crumbling it up into something resembling a cross between a scribble and an LCD screen. "I could never replace you." She left a caveat up in the air for them to interpret, choosing not to bring up the Chimera Project where each of them could easily replace her on the field.

Her Semblance, at the basest level, was easier than their originals. If all they wanted was to 'go fast', then the Semblance almost wanted to let them loose. It was only when it was deconstructed for use with neurons and nerves that it tended to implode and fry cells, that is, if no shielding was applied around the individual cells to protect it from its own increased bioelectricity.

And wasn't that a doozy to figure out the first few times she tried it.

Weiss stepped around Summer and pressed her fingers against the glyph hovering just above her skin and the embedded gym. It briefly flickered back into visibility, passing a warm hum back to the original manipulator.

She continued to hold her fingers against the magical construct, finding it odd and almost disturbing to see a glyph made of her unique Semblance that wasn't her own. The hum increased when she pressed her palm against it, fullying bringing it into visibility. She filed away an oddity about the increased vibration.

A part of Summer was thankful the obvious observation was cut off by their slightly bumpy landing of their craft, knocking Weiss off her stance, the glyph fading away again. The answer wasn't definitive just yet, something about the combination of the four Semblances forcing her glyphs to vibrate at high-speeds.

If they vibrated at any higher frequency then she could make them invisible without worrying about how she made them invisible in the first place. Part of the fundamental substance the glyphs were made of was a wavelength of light that, when combined with the Aura behind the Semblance, allowed for constructs made of 'hard' light.

That misnomer made both Yang and Weiss groan whenever she or Neo brought it up, the Schnee Semblance conveniently ignoring the physical impossibility of creating an object made from photons. It annoyed the engineer because it relied on the same concept of maintaining an Aura shield where energy was made physical, and it annoyed the scientist because her own Semblance defied classical physics.

That dead god must've been laughing at them from wherever dead gods went after they died.

The closest it fell to conventional physics was along the electricity and magnetism field where she could trap photons temporarily to make her glyphs, but it also wasn't the entire story. Something in her Semblance let her perform an impossibility to not only make incredibly strong constructs but also make them lightweight and thin.

She dealt with enough requests for more funding for Weiss' research to know they weren't serious anymore and she took a vindictive glee when shredding it. It was unlike this peculiar request she was making to Headmaster Kaldwin, practically demanding she hand over one of her resident S-ranks.

A sigh ripped its way out of her, a restless and beating sense of tiredness settling down on her chest. This was a different job once, focused on protecting people from Grimm and Grimm alone. It wasn't supposed to be a political battlefield, the entire charter written to ensure they never could. But she was reaching beyond her bounds now.

And she didn't know how to stop.

Haven Academy was an enormous sprawl of buildings that stretched across the desert wider than Atlas' Hearth Academy burrowed into its mountain. She practically stalked across the landing site with her team nipping at her heels. All the buildings around her were low and painted pure white to keep them cool, not that she noticed the colors, making an assumption more than anything.

A twisting ball of navy streaked with pure gold and silver strands grabbed her attention first, placed at the start of the path into the main building. It didn't warp like a ball or weave together like silks but spun like fine particles in a mist, the different colors bound together. The two balls of Aura by its side weren't worth mentioning other than their presence. They were taut in anticipation as her group approached them.

"Commander Rose, what an unexpected and unwanted surprise." Kaldwin certainly didn't mince words with her, her acerbic greeting disguised with banter many would take as an insult. But Summer wasn't anyone and she was positively grinning at meeting another instance of the famed Shadow of Vacuo.

She'd only ever met her once, during the signing of the Treaty at Cassus, but her Semblance had left her calling card for ages to come, a beautiful symphony of quiet and demure Aura designed to make her unnoticeable. Her scarf didn't help this in the slightest, obscuring her face and only revealing her tarnished and memorable gold eyes.

Not Blake's bright amber but a sturdy brass tested in the battlegrounds that were the Vacuoan streets.

She didn't let either affect her reply. "Headmaster Kaldwin, a pleasure to see you in person after so long. I've only heard the stories of Vacuo's unorthodox society but the flight over was enlightening. You've done well." Kaldwin's posture and Aura didn't change at her words but she could assume there was a raised eyebrow on her visage.

"Your correspondence was worrying Commander, to say the least. I attributed your want for more S-ranks under your wing as a growing pain of your new position, and I still question Ozpin's decision on that, but..." She stepped forward from her entourage and met her halfway, inspecting her like a merchant would wares, or a brothel-keep a whore. She traced a finger along the temples of her blindfold, eliciting a possessive growl from Blake. "May I?"

She nodded near imperceptibly, Kaldwin loosening the layers of the blindfold and carefully pulling them down over her nose. Her team waited with bated breath as the power behind them grew with each blocker removed until Kaldwin dared look at the unholy void with her own eyes. She gave no reaction other than tutting piteously and bravely staring at them for a few seconds before rewrapping the silken bands.

"No child should have such eyes." It was her turn to tut piteously. Kaldwin looked past her to look at each of her teammates, again meeting their stares evenly but no longer judging by making sounds. She amended her statement just as quickly. "No children should have such eyes, but then again, you're all S-ranks in your own rights."

There was a hint of threat behind that statement, no Headmaster, at least in this dimension, ever having to deal with an entire fireteam of overpowered Hunters on their soil. While technically they were all on the same side, Vacuo was perpetually balanced between the forces of the Hunters against the plutocracy that was the Council.

She wasn't going to insult Kaldwin by stating she didn't need Raven because Vacuo needed strength just as much as Raven needed the lawlessness to get away with her violent and absolute methods of justice and protection. She took after her aunt in those aspects.

"Raven Branwen." She stated shortly and getting a nod of recognition in return from the Headmaster. "I know she's been hiding away in this country but I'm not here to drag her back in cuffs." That got a raised eyebrow from the other woman and she had to glance over at Blake, the Faunus slowly spinning a knife on her finger. "I'm here to requisition her for the Amity Colosseum security team."

"Don't try and attempt to swindle me with your honeyed words Commander. I already have to deal with my subversive Council and I don't need it from an equal" That got a smile from her, knowing the buzzing annoyance that could be the collective Council. More often than not their actions were benign in the grand scheme of the war between the Hunters and the Grimm, but every so often they made things worse.

But such was the cost paid with the Charter, a complete split between the Hunters, an independent force meant to defend from enemies outside, and the Council, the governing body with which all decisions were made.

"Raven will be free to return to Vacuo once the Vytal Tournament is concluded, on this you have my word as Commander of Beacon along with five witnesses to confirm them. I don't even need her to return immediately, but I do need her to return soon." Summer placated, easing off on the language of her original message.

"I will need her back, you understand?" Kaldwin fixed her with a stern gaze that would make Glynda proud, her Aura flexing up against her own, the two titans of their forces squaring off. She acquiesced to this little demand, finding no fault in keeping Raven in a place where she didn't want to be. "You're making a collection."

"You know what Raven is, don't you?" The older woman's Aura stopped pulsing for the briefest of moments before it gained a malevolent overtone. "I know the balance between the four must be kept, and I will not be responsible for our fall because of my pride."

Kaldwin released a breath of air she didn't know she was holding and let her Aura calm down from the storm it wrung itself into, her shoulders dropping from their rigid stature and a slight smile growing on her face.

"Then you understand what is at stake when you take her on as your responsibility. Raven will be granted permission," Kaldwin stopped when Yang abruptly laughed at the notion of Raven being controlled by anyone, "to leave, and yes Xiao-Long, I know your mother has no respect for authority." She turned back to her fellow Commander. "And Ruby, you have one day as a sign of respect before I want you gone. You and yours are bad omens."

She turned away from their group and walked down the path towards her school, not even deeming them worthy of a look back.

"And have a good day too Emily," Ruby replied after Kaldwin disappeared from her view, turning to gaze down at the sprawl of districts from her viewpoint at the top of the plateau Shade was nestled on. Even from up here she could easily tell where Raven was located.

"Are every one of your peers as succinct and paranoid as you?" Yang joined her in gazing down at the city. If she could see, she would remark on the odd quality of life the people seemed to find in this shamble of a society. They survived where most wouldn't dream of settling down, choosing the hardy life over the easier ones their brethren in Mistral did.

"We don't have time to deal with what the world attempts to throw at us." Kaldwin had been alive for far longer than she looked to most people, holding Vacuo in her tight grip. Somehow she'd managed to remain as the one and only Shadow of Vacuo, despite reports stating she looked to be in her early twenties.

None of them noticed the inflection she placed on a certain word but only Blake noticed her press a palm against her leg pouch and grip it tightly. Her wife was too astute to not notice these tiny things and she could do nothing to stop the leaking pain from her mindscape.

Pain was what made the Commanders who they were, a shared suffering that saw them defend their countries with their lives, leaders that had to sacrifice their Hunters because they alone weren't infallible.

But this was close to her end, Ruby almost permanently silent as she held back the oncoming storm of their original persona. She occasionally whispered words of sympathy or status updates but her primary role was to stave off the terrible conclusion to their past torment, at least until they were safely away from one of the largest population centers on the planet.

"Come along. We still have to get to meeting with Khan after everything." Her core almost automatically reached out for its other parts and started the process of moving them across the rooftops. She let them freefall immediately after they dropped from the plateau, enjoying the wind as it flew threw her hair perhaps for one of the last times. Ruby beamed back what little positive emotions she could scrounge up from the cesspit that was Re'iyah, ignoring the backlash from the great doors that creaked.

The metal of them, while still structurally stable, looked incredibly corroded. Spots of light-colored metal tainted the edges, worn thin from the overwhelming force beating its way out, intentionally or not. Most of the chains that secured their way around from points in the imaginary wall were already shattered and strewn about, Ruby unable to muster the willpower to banish them away.

All of her current willpower was still latched to the remaining seals plastered around the door, flimsy paper to the eye and touch but inscribed with words of power: the names of those most important to her, the names of her team written absolutely everywhere the most followed by every single member of Vale's Hunters.

But they were starting to fray, memories unable to prevent them from peeling apart.

Rei happily feasted on the emotions as she returned them, the feeling of the wind abating to nothing more than a physical sensation. They continued their journey forward, bouncing off of white glyphs this time as they moved over the roofs. She screwed her eyes shut as a seal got torn off in a flurry of white light, Ruby running damage control over the rest of them.

She chose to focus on something else, noting the pools of darkness under her feet, the sounds of industry and social life, the smell of dry heat, and the taste of city smoke. She could ignore it for now, Ruby even partially repairing a seal as Rei happily bounced around, avoiding all the light rays but pulling in everything else with her ravenous appetite.

Blake watched her from the side, observing everything she could from her limited sightline. She was suspicious as was her nature. Worrying about her was the second nature of Prune right after the first stage of worrying that came with being her wife. Her heart was in the right place as usual, and it would shatter into a thousand pieces upon her end.

The bright ball of Aura that represented Raven encapsulated just about every other form of life, the fragmented soul of a god being the paragon of all that represented what was good and just. Or at least what she suspected represented what Ozpin was, a figure for the defense of humanity, of morality, and order, and interdependence, and logic.

That was at least how her sonar interpreted it. She chose to interpret them in these shades of grey, her morality changing the shades depending on her programmed virtues and vices. The Grimm were denoted with black, Rei a black hole nestled in her silvery core, and everything else ranged between pure and dark.

The tiny pinpricks on the edge of the large sphere of Aura of the Spring Maiden were easily avoided on their way into the compound. She was forced to diminish the closest parts of sensor ability or be rendered blind to everything else. Funny how Ozpin could maintain a silvery veneer of a human, but Raven was a fiery pulsar that refused to be hidden.

Standing next to her was another story. She couldn't see anything and had to rely on her radar shells only at that range. Her aunt was just as tall as she remembered, rivaling Yang in height. The Branwen genes bred true from that trait all the way down to the typically impassioned eyes and voluptuous hair.

"Niece brat." Typical Branwen response as well when dealing with unwanted family members. Not a surprise at all. Yang got a similar response. "Daughter brat." Said woman took offense to that dared step up to her elder, her Aura coalescing and turning her eyes bright crimson.

"Mother bitch." She couldn't quite register the shock of the return insult before Yang slugged her heavily and sent her careening into the nearest building, the wall crumbling down in an ear-splitting crack of clay and brick. "Been waiting to do that for fucking years! Woo!" She flung her hands up and turned around to stare at them in jubilation.

The rubble shifted as Raven dug herself out of it, brushing dust from her hair and spitting out sand. A purple sheen of Aura crackled over the injury to her face, the rough patch job making it scar over. Hmm. So that was where Yang got the nasty habit of searing her wounds shut rather than waiting for a field patch job.

Still couldn't quite figure out whether she enjoyed the scars, Weiss enjoyed them, or they both enjoyed them.

"Fucking seven layers of guacamole dip." She brushed the last of the dust from her shoulder and inspected her weapon for any dents and scratches. "Beacon taught you well. Glad to see Ozpin got off his ass finally and started training you rookies."

"Seven layers of guacamole dip?" Weiss asked getting a few blinks from Raven as if she was just noticing her. "And I thought you were creative."

"Who's the midget Schnee?" Weiss almost, almost rose to the bait, her Aura catching in what she could only call a hiccup. She was getting rather good at this, guessing what her teammates were going to do or what their facial expressions were. Angela had a field day with that one, her use of Aura deformation instead of facial cues to communicate pioneering a new field of study for her.

Neo would sue for royalties.

To countermand Neo's imaginary lawsuit, she'd bring out a point of necessity on account of not being able to function even close to an inept and spastic monkey. Neo could rant and rave, or do the mute equivalent of the two (waving picket signs with all the force of a chibi) all she wanted but she wasn't the blind one in this case.

"Your daughter-in-law." The brisk reply threw Raven worse than the earlier punch. She shook off the surprise with ease though, not letting it get to her more than an annoying mosquito.

"You should really reconsider marrying into the Branwens midget, but I hear your family's more screwed up than mine." A slight bend of the truth because not all of the Schnees were bad apples just like all of the Branwens weren't vicious tribal leaders. "Maybe it'll work out."

"One, only Yang gets to call me a midget and that's only because I let her." Yang positively beamed at the praise. "Two… uh…" She stopped and looked up into the corner of her eyes as she knew she would, sticking out her tongue as she grasped for an idea. "I don't actually know, oh wait, hold up, I know. I didn't marry her. We married each other. Got that?"

"Hmmm, you're the daughter of Willow Schnee, aren't you." That brought a wry grin to her strategist's face. "Same dirty mouth and fiery spirit before they got crushed by that asshole Jacques. Good job on that by the way, very... Kylo Ren."

"Yeah, except I didn't kill him, and neither am I an angsty teenager that thinks edginess and dark colors are suitable substitutes for therapy." She wore enough white for the color to actually radiate back to the sensor. Blake wore mostly purple on another note. Weiss finished off her rant by flipping Raven the bird.

"Whatever you say kid." Raven dismissed her for now, turning her attention back to the reason why she was outside and waiting for a mysterious guest in the first place. No Commander could ignore the need to mess with their subordinates and, because Raven stayed here under Kaldwin's protection, she was almost obligated to listen.

S-ranks, while unpredictable in combat, mostly led boring and predictable lives. Any mystery and potential excitement made them investigate.

"So where's Ozpin?" It was her turn to frown at the question until she realized she had sent the initial request to Kaldwin and not Raven directly. It wasn't her fault Raven chose to cut off all contact with Vale after her initial leaving, not knowing or not caring of the internal affairs of Beacon.

"Ozpin no longer commands Beacon. He stepped down a few months ago." Re'iyah growled a few times at the mention of the man's name. Enough semi-corporeal meetings with the progenitor of the Silvereyes made her wary of him, and if she still had her original eyes then perhaps she'd get the same treatment.

"Please tell me Qrow isn't lost somewhere in a brothel and we have to go look for him." She pressed a thumb to the bridge of her nose to alleviate the brewing headache. Enough interactions between the two made her annoyed with him, to say the least, but she still considered him family.

That much she knew.

"No, Qrow is currently handcuffed and overseen by Glynda to make sure he turns in his paperwork. I'm sure you remember her riding crop better than I do." Raven winced as memory after memory of her time at Beacon played, remembering the many spars she'd lost to the dominatrix before she gained control over her Semblance. "I command Beacon."

"Pull the other finger." The response was immediate and instinctual. She attempted to stare her down for the boldfaced claim but her blindfold deflected it. She wasn't aware of the human notion anymore, her world a haze of different Auras and lumpy shapes.

A howl of wind tore through the courtyard and Raven found her niece suddenly standing neutrally in front of her. She blinked a few times to make sure the dust hadn't gotten in her eyes to suddenly trick her sense but had to eventually conclude the mirage was real.

"Neat trick." Her intrigue rose when Ruby pulled apart the bow keeping her blindfold in place and shook her head. The ribbon cascaded down through the strands of her hair until the entire piece settled loosely around her shoulders. She could feel Blake tense from behind her, Raven unable to blind the other side of her vision. "Training inju-?"

Her words died in her throat when Ruby opened her eyes and pinned her in place with a daunting pressure she could taste. There was a sick pleasure that made her smile cynically. It was a rare occasion she could put Raven in her place, the haughty woman not used to bowing down.

Quite literally with how rigid her spine was practically singing in strain. Salem had ushered in a similar sense of utter despondency combined with the daunting pressure of being several kilometers underwater when they'd faced off the one time, making it near impossible to stand or even breath in her presence. It alone made her an S-rank with people able to resist it numbering in the single digits.

Sometimes it made people run in fear and other times they collapsed in a dead faint, but by far the most common effect had people unable to move.

Raven's Maiden core started to resist the pressure after only a few spare moments and further saturated the area around them with pressure enough to have glass shards form under their feet. She could feel her own shells begin to warp as her Aura deconstructed under the immense force and she silently resolved to both abuse the method using Yang's core fragment and devise a method to counteract it more than brute power.

Especially given the amount of Aura the rest of her team were expending to prevent the pressure from affecting them. Their primary shields rippled with enough energy to short circuit Vale's power grid, on top of being thick enough to taste and feel with her radar.

If she ever lost her sense of taste then maybe she'd figure something out with them. Took twenty years to lose one sense so she'd probably lose another before the next two decades came to pass given her luck.

Not that she'd live to see the next week.

Funny how luck seemed to find its way back to her at the eve of her end when before she didn't know it existed, casting aside the faith many kept in their back pocket. She was created without the concept existing, designed to rely on herself first rather than on chance.

Something terribly loud and metallic echoed through her head as the last of the chains shattered from the weight of the doors pressing against them, sending tiny shards of steel flying across the mindscape and injury the two occupants. Rays of lights plunged the constructed environment into a shade of grey, and any more beams would whiten it completely.

And spell their end, but that was less of a worry with the absolute certainty of it. And she could scratch a week from the list. At this rate, she wouldn't make it out of the meeting with Sienna, much less escape Vacuo. Yang could, as a last resort, throw her into the desert, but she'd probably eclipse half the continent with the ensuing clash.

The current stand-off between the two ascended beings would've ended with Yang and Weiss smacking both of them, but her idiot of an aunt didn't back down from the challenge of her now commander officer, daring to stare into her eyes and ignoring the call of her instincts to not do that exact thing and instead obey her.

Her vision shells collapsed before she knew what was happening and her hearing shortly followed, overtaken by the sound of silence. The last thing she remembered was the sound of Blake somehow piercing the veil around her ears and calling her name.

* * *

She came to with a banger of a headache and wasn't that a kicker after realizing she was in her head. Somehow, though she really shouldn't be surprised anymore, she was feeling pain while inside her own head, a place that didn't have pain receptors. She sat up abruptly enough for vertigo to make her head spin and she blinked at the odd sensation of being able to see again.

No matter how accustomed she'd gotten to her new vision shells, the return to her inner world still blinded her due to the sheer lack of anything, as counterintuitive that sounded. Her situation wasn't a disability in her opinion, just an alternate sense to the one she lost.

She observed her hand for a few moments and noted the scarring across the creases of her fingers and palm. Years of work she could only view because her mind remembered the injuries and nicks sustained. For all she knew her hands were even more scarred than their representation in the imaginary world with the times she'd accidentally sliced open her flesh when cleaning Crescent Rose.

But despite the absolute power granted to her in her own domain, she could do nothing to remove the partition, Ruby having already deleted any adjoining rooms to solely concentrate on maintaining the environment around the Doors. If she faltered in any way, then all hell would be let loose in the middle of one of the largest population centers on Remnant.

She brushed off flecks of dust as she wobbled to a stand, this constructed body feeling weak due to some underlying reason she had yet to identify. Was it the confrontation with the Maiden of Spring, or was it the clash of Auras afterward that had forced her into this place?

And why in all things Neo was Raven inside of her mindscape? The older woman no longer blazed with the strength of their sun, feeling remarkably normal to her senses, her sensors able to pick out the purple miasma that was her natural core when previously it was eclipsed entirely.

Something had pulled Raven into her mindscape, and she couldn't help but remember the old saying that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Probably originally written as a piece of romantic fluff because of how intense staring into another's eyes could be but the same definitely applied here.

Weiss had remarked how often she couldn't hold her gaze because the feeling behind them was too much to bear, fearing losing herself to the call of the void. At least her team was smart enough to listen to the part of their brain that yelled at them to not do exactly what Raven had done.

Raven's Maiden core also probably had something to do with it, the strength behind it letting her fight rather than be subsumed by the enormous power behind the void. Yang would have to coin her eyes as a new Semblance once she was gone to add to the myth of her, right after she finished the rest of the tasks on her ever-growing list.

Like figuring out how to make Serenity run on a miniaturized nuclear reactor without weighing down the craft or killing them through radiation. Or somehow creating a stable and tiny arc fusion reactor without blowing them across Remnant. Or using her own Semblance to somehow catalyze energy from the environment to create a pollution-free and infinitely sustainable method of travel.

The first would make Serenity absurdly large due to the shielding alone, and the second would still have to be housed in something at least three meters wide. Engineering nightmare for sure, but it'd give her something to do while mopping. The fact it would revolutionize the energy industry didn't occur to her.

Raven's opening words prompted her to help her to her feet and let her get her bearings before dropping the massive anvil that were her plans on her, and she actually had to banish the metal weight from crushing her as it appeared above them. So some control, but not all. "What hit me?" She staggered on her feet for a few moments, carefully prying her eyes open to take in the fuzzy form of her niece. "Brat."

"Pulling you into my mindscape was not my intention." She felt nothing at the term of endearment directed her way. "You did stare into my eyes after all."

"Kid, you're going to have to do a hell of a lot more explaining." Raven braced herself on her knee with one hand and threw another on her shoulder, her familiar crimson eyes drilling into hers before she looked away to the side. So, her black marbles were a permanent feature or was it because she accepted them as part of her body now. They certainly didn't evoke the hellish pressure as they did in the outside world.

She could make them silver again, probably, but another time perhaps. For now she had to deal with a treasonous S-rank of an aunt and also force her back to Beacon for the duration of the Vytal Tournament, and perhaps just before that.

She forced Raven to look at her again by redirecting her chin, Raven flinching only slightly before relaxing as the pressure behind her nightmare orbs never appeared. "You looked into my eyes, and we both appeared in my mindscape, and no," she cut off the immediate and predictable question, "I haven't figured out how."

Raven took this lull in the conversation to fully stand up and survey her surroundings. Behind her and to the sides she knew there was nothing as nothing but the Doors could exist in this plane. "Your mind sucks." She gestured behind Raven and chuckled dryly when she noticed the colossal and dilapidated doors towering over her. Odd how they didn't cast a shadow.

"Why are there two of you here?" She comically fumbled while rapidly staring between the two of them. While there were two of them, the difference between them was staggering to say the least. Assuming she looked healthy, or Blake would've smacked her for not taking care of herself better, Ruby looked close to death.

Her hair fell limply to the side of her head and clung almost desperately to her skin through the light sheen of sweat. And her eyes, surprisingly a gleaming pink, glowed with the strength of a dying match, barely moving. Dark shadows clung to the skin underneath them and her cheeks were gaunt with the rest of her skin sallow and pale. What strength she had left to fight against the Doors was waning incredibly quickly if the slumped over kneel she was in was anything to do by.

She rushed over to her side as quickly as her Semblance allowed her to and joined her on the floor, pulling her across her body to let her rest. Her other protested with murmured words that didn't reach her ears before she thrust the weight of the Doors onto her and collapsed limply, snuggling into the crook of her neck.

She could only take half a breath before the pressure emanating from the Doors slammed into her, blindsiding her for a few precious seconds and allowing half a dozen seals to tear apart in a flurry of light before she mustered Yang's core and practically threw the entirety of it against the imminent collapse.

They held if barely, the metal screeching and groaning at the loss in momentum.

Re'iyah, the little rascal of a Grimm, patiently sat by her side and keened balefully, nudging her with a cold wet nose. A black pool of smoke coalesced around them until she grew to the size of a wolf and lay down at her knees. Smiling sadly, for how else could she feel about the burden she had placed on herself, she pressed a kiss to the crown of her other and lay her gently down on Re'iyah.

A small smile graced Ruby's face while she dreamt, the toll of the last few days knocking her unconscious the moment her other came to relieve her. She couldn't keep doing this, putting herself through the weight of their previous self. Something was bound to break, and only the question of 'when' remained.

She could take up the burden herself and meditate over the Doors to prevent them from opening for another few days if Ruby could maintain her persona enough to take back control of their body, but already she was a flickering mess, her body glitching out in places as the need for her abated. With their real self knocking, and knocking with the strength of a few nukes, her body faded and wasted away, her own will overriding her own creation.

She could only imagine how Raven was taking this, standing almost directly behind her and watching her care for a younger and more innocent version of herself. Maybe more innocent wasn't the proper term with how invested Ruby was as the Hunter Commander and she definitely held the edge to interacting with her team on missions, but she, her own creation, was steeped in her own blood and pain to become the perfect Hunter.

"What are you?" The proper question finally came from Raven and was promptly answered by a piece of the Door disintegrating with an ear-splitting rend. Her core took a pounding as Yang's fragment actually struggled to catalyze enough Aura and had to resort to cannibalizing Blake and Weiss' fragments. Her arms started to shake with the effort this battle was taking and she prayed to whatever god could hear her call to have Ruby wake up.

She wasn't built for this, and neither was Ruby, but her sister was stronger in ways she couldn't fathom, daring to hold back this might for several weeks when she was about to fail in the first minute.

"I am High Commander Ruby Rose of Beacon of my failed dimension and one of four Commanders trusted to lead the Unified Remnant Hunter Forces." Raven didn't immediately react to that, choosing to take a seat in front of her to keep the terrifying Doors out of her vision. "I am the last of the Silvereyes in this world, and there will never be any after me."

She spent the next few hours, or was it minutes or even seconds, answering her aunt's questions, ranging from how she came to be in this dimension all the way to the nature of her coming death in a few scant hours. She stewed in the typical Branwen stupor as she digested this overload of information, able to ask follow-up questions about the Grimm in her mindscape and the slowly fracturing Doors, receiving the clean and unadulterated truth.

Something had brought Raven here for a reason and while she wasn't going to give destiny any more tally marks (lest Weiss find out if destiny could be personified and launch a campaign against her for her slights), it let her move Raven far more easily than simply threatening her into submission. Coincidence, she thought not.

None of the Branwens had submission kinks to begin with and the fight Raven would've demanded to have her leave Vacuo for Beacon would've leveled at least her home and the surrounding district.

"You're not lying to me, that much I can tell." Raven kept her in her sights for a touch too long now that her eyes weren't emanating the void. Why that was was still a mystery she wouldn't get to answer, but it was nice to have someone talk to you eye to eye again rather than look away from her blindfold and feel pity. She scratched her head before sitting back much more erect and pulled her sword from her sheath to lay it across her lap.

Interesting note that weapons could also travel into her mental realm, but whether this was because both of their weapons were forged with their blood or because she allowed it to be there would also remain unanswered, much to her growing chagrin of things left for her to do. Not for herself but for her team and her successor.

"What are your orders," She visibly and audibly swallowed a ball of spit before she proceeded with her question, "Commander Rose?" If it wasn't a serious request then she'd comment on the sound of her pride bending but she didn't want to jinx anything with the Doors ready to collapse onto them.

"Return to Beacon where you'll have a pardon waiting for you. Ozpin will never let you become Commander with your track record, but you will advise whoever succeeds me well as a Hunter that led others through a war already." Raven nodded with the slowness of a rusted machine. "My time here grows short but you have my authority to negotiate with Sienna Khan of the White Fang."

"Would you rather not have one of your teammates do it?"

"Blake will have a clone with you as a representative and you'll have a full copy of the proposed ceasefire, but it is up to you to finalize it before handing it over to Ozpin." Raven knew her home territory better than Blake ever could, and potentially had dealt with the leader of the Fang already as equal powerhouses. "I will need them all to…"

She didn't finish the sentence but Raven got the gist of it, knowing what would happen once she left the compound. "I'll light a candle for you on my return." She only got a single head nod in return but no tears dared streak her cheeks.

"Why are you helping me?" She finally asked after slamming a majority of her Aura into the Doors and sealing them shut with a ring of glyphs around the edges.

"Because your mother would've wanted me to." She stood from her seiza and bowed formally to her. "And because it's your last wish." That got a mirthless laugh from Summer, the implication of her securing her loyalty because she was dying not lost on her. It was entirely possible that in another universe, Raven would be a cold-hearted bitch that masked her cowardness with her attitude but it was good to know that she still cared for what little family she had left in this world.

And as long as she didn't have to fight Salem directly...

"You have your orders Raven Branwen of Beacon. Yang will give you a copy when you leave here." She stood up this time and presented a hand for Raven to shake, choosing to mark her as an equal rather than a subordinate in this case. The slight widening of her eyes was all she betrayed before she started to fade from her view. "I have an alter to wake for her final watch."

* * *

She woke to Blake running her fingers through her hair and let loose a rumble of a purr at the feeling, ignoring the weak protests from a freshly awakened Ruby that only exacerbated their accelerating condition. She quickly clammed up though once she sent the same feeling to her.

Over the din of the pleasure she could hear Yang and Raven conversing as if nothing had ever been wrong with them, but both knew the former had already had her revenge against the other in another dimension. It was only her logic that this was a slightly different Raven that prevented her from getting torn a new one, but it still prompted her earlier flight into a building.

There was a hint of unmasked pride in her voice.

She felt Weiss off to the side because of the death grip she had on her hand, tears practically spilling onto the bed she lay on. Her fears had apparently jumped to the worst one, that the previously mentioned end had appeared early. Better for her to cry now than collapse into a ball of useless and mushy emotions when her team needed her. A choked sob of relief tore from her when she squeezed back and she buried her face into the crook of her neck.

"I assume she told you." She felt Weiss nod against her neck. She held the older woman tight to her and shifted her to sit on her lap as she moved to sit on the edge of the bed. Blake's answer was a sharp pain of claws digging into her arm but nothing more. She had been ready for this moment for years.

"I'm wasn't going to lie to them after you remain collapsed," Raven answered partly this time and subtly glanced enough away from her daughter to complete the rest of it. Yang could be terrifying when she had cause to be. Greatly contrasting the Branwen matriarch, Yang was a mess of overt twitches with her Aura rapidly shifting between purple and red almost sentiently. "And I'm not sadistic enough to leave them in the dark for the next few hours."

That was the problem with Raven, to a certain degree. She took loyalty to a level above the norm, be it to her tribe or to her family, but would instantly crush any lingering feelings if she believed another cause took precedent. Her subjective sense of morals and justice made her cruel Hunter and an even crueler mother.

At least she had left Yang with Tai instead of in a cardboard box in an alleyway. If she had a kid, somehow, that kid would've been left at the nearest orphanage. That was her brand of moral and right, that she could serve humanity better than slaving away as a parent to an infant. And as perfect a facsimile Ruby was, she also agreed.

She smothered a chuckle before Blake could hear it and worry about her, barely allowing a grin on her face. Raven would make a suitable and terrifyingly competent Commander if Ozpin let her, but Beacon didn't need another wartime Commander after her if her plans succeeded. Sure, she'd be out of the picture, but her team would end Cinder before she could become a threat.

Qrow, with his annoying compassion and ability to work for the Council, albeit in a limited form, would succeed her, and with Ozpin's help, you restructure the Hunters to work together with the other factions instead of in a mutually agreed upon ignorance. Her totalitarian regime would end today, with none of the Hunters wiser they had even served under one.

Technically.

"A few hours is what it'll take for us to get to the middle of the Vacuoan Desert." She reached for Crescent Rose, adjusting for the weight of the clinging koala that was her little princess. The egregiously large scythe hummed with the power unknown, a sheen of vermilion traveling along the many different components.

None of her team members knew how to react to that, Yang and Blake predictably looking at each other in worry emanating from them enough for her to taste it. Weiss just shook her head and tightened her arms and legs around her as if that could somehow prevent her from leaving them.

A glyph could theoretically anchor her soul to this plane, assuming humans had souls and they weren't just infinitely complex matrices of electrical impulses. Well, that was also assuming glyphs could somehow be made from ethereal material rather than from part of the electromagnetic spectrum. An experiment for another time perhaps.

"Is this it then?" Weiss shifted her weight to sit on Summer's hip and stare deep into her eyes, resting her forehead against hers. Climate change ran its course on the icebergs of her iris, the deep blue of the hidden underpart receding to the melting ice of dying glaciers. She tried to warn her of the danger, not willing to subject her angel to the vision of the Doors, but she found the words caught in her throat when she realized Weiss didn't care.

She'd already accepted the horrific reality coming to take her and maybe that was why her eyes had no effect on her.

She'd already given up hope.

The Doors creaked dangerously when all of Weiss' seals tore to shreds, Ruby stifling a scream of unadulterated pain. Re'iyah provided what little comfort she could in her larger and more huggable form by letting her dig her fingers into her malleable form. Light ray after light ray bounced around the artificial mindscape and the two of them did their best to shield each other from the effects.

Blake and Yang had all but one seal each left positioned across the two doors with the remains of Weiss' clinging weakly to the metal in the imaginary breeze.

She betrayed nothing on her face and pressed a soft kiss to Weiss' lips. The gates between her conscious self and mindscape slammed shut before she could torture Ruby any further, getting a wave of gratitude in return. The feeble link between them would only allow soft whispers until the Doors finally shattered open.

Yang snapped a photograph of them for her ever-expanding collection of blackmail, but she had a sneaking suspicion her gallery contained more images of them hanging out together than any real incriminating material. Though most if not all of them were of them in questionable situations that involved questionable morals with even more questionable answers.

Good collage or slideshow material.

Ruby felt Weiss shift her weight to better grip her collar in desperation. Tears ran unabashedly down Weiss' face and traveled all the way down to the blindfold around her own neck. She couldn't muster any tears of her own, but Weiss more than made up for the both of them.

Weiss greatly deepened the kiss and ravaged her mouth with the thirst of a woman in the desert. That irony wasn't lost in some corner of her mind that was still operating beyond the gateway of information the pain encompassed.

"I thought she was supposed to be married to you?" She caught the tail end of Raven's whisper to Yang, getting a chuckle from Weiss as she broke the intimate kiss and rested her forehead on hers again.

"It's complicated." Came Blake's clipped and raspy answer, her voice barely inflecting anymore. Her Aura core was barely moving now, a despondent ball of still watery energy that refused to ripple more than a lake on a still day. She still noticed the shy smile on her face that was there because Weiss loved them all true.

But it wasn't forced or fake as she might've expected it to be.

It was as she expected of her best soldier; loyal to the end and always ready to perform her duty as was her prerogative as a weapon and as her wife. But was the latter one bound to her in such a way, or was her warped perception tricking it? The duties of a wife were ingrained in her from Ruby's creation: to love and care for her spouse.

But were euthanasia and murder bundled up with those?

Would a good wife force her spouse to go through with it?

Ruby chimed in helpfully with an answer she could barely understand through the portcullis of her mind gate. No, no a good wife wouldn't force her wife into such a divisive decision, to make her choose between love for her and love for their people. Another helpful chime from her other told her she also shouldn't have locked lips with another person but that was a difference in marriage laws and their limitations.

She wasn't the poster child for upholding laws if they didn't fit into her needs after all. Democracy faltered under her dictatorial reign, the rules of law and justice cast aside for her greater good when the Council or Jacques dared interfere, for her vision.

Her greater good.

Maybe once she'd have been revolted at the idea of it. When she'd been a child just entering the brutal world of the Hunter administration when she'd first been trained at the age of five to take up the mantle of Headmaster due to her ancestry to follow Ozpin's greater good. To become the future Headmaster with Ozpin by her side as an advisor.

But her greater good was different. It didn't matter if the enemy was human or Grimm, terrorist or law enforcement, ignorant or malicious politician. The species didn't matter to her in her greater good, just that they weren't threats to the innocent population of Remnant. And even that definition haunted her in the dead of night.

Sure was a wake-up call to the population that thought itself safe because they were human. Ozpin would've raised hell if he'd been alive to scold her when her war bled over to the White Fang and the Kingdom militaries when she'd been forced to rip armies apart as her prerogative demanded of her.

Before her creation, the original Ruby would have been content to sit back and let the countries tear themselves to shreds until Commander Qrow witnessed the terrible effects even a small skirmish had on the growth of the Grimm. It wasn't long after that that she'd emerged as the guardian her Hunters needed rather than a sweet summer child.

Both of them had been idealistic, but only she understood the brutal reality of command through fear. Beacon would've loved Ruby as their Headmaster, a kind and loving child with a heart of gold and set on fighting Grimm with her all, but they didn't need her. They only wanted her because of what she represented.

What they got was a nightmare that refused to ever have anyone else be on the field if she herself couldn't be there first. Any resistance from the countries within her sphere of influence was crushed without mercy as messages to the reigning Councils to not test her patience or the power she seemed to effortlessly wield. Her Hunters had learned to both respect and fear her for her ire wasn't limited to the military and Fang alone. They were subject to the same strict guidelines she imposed, that they were there to protect rather than to wage war.

Her team would have to learn to do without her reputation and forge their own methods of command. Respect and fear worked for her because she had no concept of rule through love, her code written to protect first and lead second. That was the way her team had rebuilt the shell of their leader those many years ago, all culminating in the failed defense of Remnant against the Primordials.

And they would succeed because the trust they imparted on her as their leader and Commander returned to them twice over. She mused idly at the unforeseen effect of her restructuring. Three of them had trusted in her, but now she left the future of Remnant to the three who'd built her up in the first place.

They were on the right path as Blake picked Weiss up from her place and threw her to the recently vacated bed, eliciting a cry of shock and surprise at the rough treatment. Any further thoughts were drowned out as Blake first pressed her Aura core against hers and then immediately followed with a kiss.

Their intermingled cores sang out in harmony but she ignored the wonderful high it elicited in her when it started to affect the mind gate she imposed. She instead focused on the other wonderful feeling of physicality Blake evoked in her, the carnal pleasure she enjoyed so many times because it was the only feeling her body let her feel.

Or was it the only feeling this persona could feel?

Was it because of her torture or was it because this was how she was constructed? All of her feelings for Blake and Weiss and Yang could've well been created to facilitate a need for their approval and trust as a way of controlling her, but it didn't matter in the end. She had her job to do and she'd been given three extremely proficient and talented Hunters to accomplish it with.

So was her reality so terrible?

She happily returned the kiss and tightly wrapped her arms around her intelligent and primal wife. She was still as beautiful as she could remember, she thought, some deep and undisturbed memories resurfacing from the pit. The scars she traced along her waist and shoulders were as remarkable as ever, memories trapped in physical form.

Their matched heights made for an equal battle as Blake attempted to remove her tonsils, abusing her heritage to wrestle through her tongue and viciously nip at her lips with her sharpened incisors. She felt both of her cores significantly rise in heat from their battle until her aunt roughly cleared her throat.

She was also dealing with some pent up arousal if the way she rubbed her thighs together was a sign to go by.

Her blood sang with fire for the first time since their initial time jump, perhaps from Yang's infernal core fragment or the fatality of her future. The juggernaut found herself pulled sharply from her side and into her hold, her fingers daring to entangle themselves in the gold threads of her cousin's hair.

A guttural growl erupted from Yang at her impudence and she again found the ire of a teammate turned on her abused lips. Only now did she notice how neither her glyphs or personal glyph defense system activated at the bodily threat presented to her. The eternal warmth her Yang perpetually emanated did nothing to cool her down, Weiss' Aura fragment strangely quiet.

Yang traced the scars this body still possessed, slipping under her shirt to tickle the Lichtenberg figures spread across her abdomen. Her dragon continued to press her advantage as she brushed a thumb against the underpart of her breasts, using her height and weight to pull her into her form.

She tokenly fought against the loving prison, a few precious strands of precious metal left on her hand when she ravenously returned the love bite and forced her to disengage from their battle. Her Aura, and no doubt her eyes, glistened a frightening crimson to match the trail of red trailing down her lips. Yang wiped it off with the pad of her thumb and made sure she heard the delectable sound of her licking it up.

An abrupt and terrifying laugh echoed around the room and she briefly wondered who made the delicious sound until she felt that everyone was staring at her in a mixture of horror and sorrow and she realized she had produced the noise. Yang's grip on her waist only tightened at the loss of control over their shared life, her Aura rapidly shifting back to a vivid amethyst she knew her eyes now reflected.

"It's time," Yang spoke her thoughts out loud exactly and she could barely feel the pain of her seal exploding in her catastrophic namesake. Despite her mindscape reacting to her acceptance of the death, Yang still smiled dangerously, her Aura tinged with flecks of her usual battle crimson.

If only she knew how terrifying a monster hid within her caring and loving older sister.

She could still smell her own blood on Yang's stained teeth as her tongue worked furiously to remove the protein stains from her pearly whites. Yang dragged her out of the bedroom and out the front door with the rest of her team dutifully following along at a sedate pace. She called out a good-bye to her thoroughly confused aunt before she got out of range, trusting she'd do the duty bestowed on her.

Just like Yang would do, with Blake and Weiss dragged along for the ride.

She again spread her Semblance across the team and accessed her decentralized core network. The familiar thrum of her full power forced a grin to her pale visage and they rocketed off into the Vacuo desert, leaving behind a trail of multi-colored petals. She conveniently forgot to raise the wind shield, letting it buffet against her shields and tear at her skin and hair until she felt alive.

She didn't think her team begrudged her the feeling.

* * *

Her vision shells remained partially active as she retreated into her mindscape for the last time, taking careful note of the many Blake clones that surrounded the valley she sat in. A large and relatively flat sandy area had been located as they neared the western edge of Vale's redwood forest.

She'd taken a seat in the widest part and almost immediately a dome of glyphs was snapped into existence around her. When her initial radar scan finished, she also learned Weiss hadn't stopped at a dome but encased her entirely in a sphere that cut her off from any underground escape.

It wouldn't do much to stop her once she turned her strategy against her, but she got brownie points for trying. The original whiteboard she kept in her mindscape for such things was gone, but the spirit of it was still there, scattered somewhere across the theoretically infinite space until she held enough will to reconstruct it.

Unfortunately the last of her will was running painfully thin, forcing Ruby to flicker almost constantly.

"Are you ready?" She asked herself, getting a weak smile in reply.

"Are you ready?" A scratchy voice repeated her question right back to her and Ruby made to stand, shifting her weight from her knees. She barely got off the balls of her feet before she collapsed into her waiting arms. Her appearance could be barely described as alive.

Deep veins crawled across her skin but these weren't Salem's characteristic scars of corruption. Instead, lines of pure white cracked across her body, emanating light so pure it hurt this manifestation of her. "Because, because I'm not." The whisper of her voice barely made it to her ears.

She ran her fingers through Ruby's short hair, testing the familiarity and strangeness of her own but also not her own body. Blake had an intimate understanding with her own body, but she, she never cared about her body other than a need to improve it, and then after her blindness, cared even less about her appearance.

Her breathing was shallow now and trailed across her neck, tickling the sensitive skin there. A few more breathes had her collapse heavily and entirely. Her fingers grasped weakly at her shirt and failed to find any purchase until she grabbed her hands and held them tightly.

"I think, I think I'm scared," Ruby admitted and she continued to pet her, interspersing shushes here and there. Her breathing leveled out until she couldn't feel it anymore and she brushed the back of her hand against her cheek, causing Ruby to close her eyes at the soft caress. "I don't want to go."

"I know." The Doors loomed over them, in the final stages of completely falling apart.

"Good luck." She whispered out one last time with her breathing falling silent. Her own eyes closed as the weight of her alter's death rested on her shoulders. There should've been something more in her heart of hearts, some sorrow or pain at the passing of her friend, or herself, but couldn't muster anything.

Did her rational mind explain her away as a tool for her use or was it simply a good-bye because of her odds of survival? Was it an assimilation of herself or a change in thinking, finally able to think for herself without another voice chiming in with both good and bad ideas.

So who was the voice contemplating these thoughts with no verbal reply coming forth? She couldn't remember the last time she heard her own conscious, that primeval part of her brain free of the mental block and boost that was Ruby. Her thoughts were now her own and that terrified her more than whoever waited for her behind the door.

She didn't have her team to rely on anymore, their physical bodies stuck outside and unable to help her. With their mental reconstruction of Ruby now all but gone save for her still warm body, she was left truly alone for the first time since her internment. She dared to look down at her sister, forcing a frown to maybe trick herself into feeling something.

A dull ache formed somewhere in her chest and started to constrict her breathing, a familiar reaction to one of her own falling in battle. Too many times had she knowingly sent her Hunters out on certain suicide missions, the same feeling weighing her down whenever a Blake clone reported the success of the mission but the death of the team. Entire districts had been evacuating or defended at the cost of four brilliant lives. Duty had made them accept the mission, knowing they likely wouldn't make it out alive, and duty had made them refute the option to leave without saving everyone they could.

But this ache intensified every second it dared wrap around her, a cold she couldn't attribute to Weiss' fragment chilling her down to her bones. The many lessons from her team almost refused to be cast aside now, and she could identify this as grief and sorrow, and perhaps a taint of rage.

Irrationality wasn't supposed to be a part of her, but maybe this assimilation let her feel what she'd had stripped from her those many years ago. Sorrow at the loss of a piece of her psyche, and rage the being behind the seals. The familiar pressure of the Doors slipped off her shoulders before the responsibility could settle, her refusal to fight the oncoming storm resounding deep.

Flecks of light grabbed her attention, the weight in her lap disappearing ever so slowly as Ruby's body disappeared. She tried to catch the light, only managing to push them around as her subconscious burned the psychological construct away with it no longer needing to sustain the false mask. A cataclysmic clang of the Doors slamming open with enough force to send them flying at them, both parts sliding around her.

The last thing she noticed was the smile of acceptance plastered to Ruby's face before her mindscape exploded into pure white, scattered her bodily form into infinitesimally small pieces. Her conscious thought process followed directly along and she could think of nothing but white, the color and feeling of pureness wiping any malicious ideas until her body reformed some distance away with Crescent Rose materializing already unfolded in her ready hands.

Absolutely nothing remained of the Doors with not even a blast point to denote where the explosion of light had originated. Remnants of chains and paper seals lay strewn about around the blast zone where a familiar figure sat in a ball with her knees pulled together. A traumatic cloak wrapped around her shoulders and pooled around her figure.

Neither she nor the figure moved for what seemed like an eternity but couldn't have been more than a heartbeat. She dared move after the figure didn't, Crescent Rose humming vibrantly in her hand and glowing her usual ominous crimson.

Forged with blood, the weapon refused to change form no matter how much she willed. She would follow her through death and into the afterlife, if such an abstract construct existed for such was the power behind a weapon. The figure also possessed a weapon, similarly strapped along her back, but this was the first version of the weapon she carried, the one she wielded when training, the one that didn't know the taste of human blood and absolute duty.

The one tinged with naivety and the pure ideal of protection and all that encompassed a universal good. That was who she was before her internment, and that was who sat in front of her, curled into a tiny ball of insult and remembrance.

She flash stepped towards the figure before she could realize she did in the first place. Rose refused to calm down, pulsing a vermilion so black she failed to locate where the weapon ended and where her body started.

The author is entering an existential crisis about the discontent between his mind and his body, wondering whether reality is pure and absolute or whether reality is what his mind is what it makes it.

Switching back to Summer's perspective. If the latter, then how did she know whether it was real and if the former, how did she her know whether her mind was absolute or whether her mind just defined what absolute was.

That certainly required a redefinition to what absolute meant to her and the world around her. Her own absolute version of the world meant nothing to the arbitrary justice that defined the outside world.

The figure raised her head to look at her, silver orbs of justice and lawful good glaring into her endless marbles of the void. The figure flinched upon meeting her gaze, burrowing herself into her cloak to avoid her gaze.

She reached out and forced the figure's chin up to meet her halfway, the other's eyes widening when taking upon the visage of an intimately familiar visage she'd seen in many mirrors before.

"Mom?" A feeling of déjà vu washed over her from the last time she'd been asked that question. An image of herself, nestled in a pool of crimson with silver Aura so bright it made her realize how blind and arrogant she must've been to ignore the many warnings and urges of Neo for her to more quickly develop her sensing abilities.

Oh good, her self-reflection capabilities were still online.

She must've known her Aura resembled a fragment of a Maiden after having to endure the insult of living with two deities that believed themselves superior to her. No, Neo was far above both Ozpin and Salem in power level, that much she was aware of now, and she wasn't sure whether they just ignored her out of principle or really did believe she was beneath them.

Her abilities stretched out to reach the afterlife, a realm she hadn't seen Salem or Ozpin touch in her short life.

"I'm not your mother." The smaller figure shrank into herself upon taking note of her impossible eyes that meant she could've never been related to her. Her hair and vague similar dress sense meant she could fool the odd acquaintance, but not anyone that knew her well. "What's the last thing you can remember?"

This was a necessary but insidious question. She didn't need to have herself relive the last traumatic memories before her sealing, but she also selfishly didn't want to die without ensuring that was the last and only option. Leaving her past unmolested in this mindscape only ensured another trigger would do the same on the outside.

Still refusing to meet her gaze, she answered. "Um, not much. There was the mission Uncle Qrow took us on against the Council House and… then… " She chose to close her eyes this time to spare her younger self from her own future, a blindfold materializing itself at the mere thought. "But, who are you, and where am I? And where is my team?"

She sat down in front of the other being, pulling Crescent Rose from her back and resting it on her lap. Her guest eyed her warily, glancing between the ribbon of a blindfold and the familiar but insanely large and murderous scythe. Her fingers danced across the alloyed metal, crimson pulsing under her touch and eliciting a smile from her.

"Your memories are incomplete, or rather everything after a certain point doesn't exist for you since you were sealed away." A warm liquid suddenly erupted from her fingertips when she strayed too close to a serrated blade. She forcefully pulled back her Aura before it could rush down and heal it, the rush of endorphins more than making up for the slight pain.

"What do you mean?" The first questions came out in her usual shotgun manner, excitement tempered with careful consideration. "How much time since I was 'sealed' away? What about my team?" Her silver eyes sharpened dangerously, the familiar glint appearing whenever something dared threaten her own.

"Two or three years, maybe four." She sucked at the blood flowing from her finger, relishing in the taste of copper. "It appears part of your memories were retroactively redacted since the moment of my birth. And you can't tell me you don't at least have an inkling of who I am?"

"You said 'since the moment of your birth', like you were born during my 'sealing'?" The other reached forward to brush across her Crescent Rose, the same pulse of crimson rippling across the weapon. "What was this 'sealing'?"

"There came a moment, probably repressed down somewhere deep in your subconscious, where your memories stop. A traumatic memory filled with failure that leads to nowhere good, just after the Council House." She cursed herself inwardly, almost hating what she had to do here.

The figure hissed in pain and withdrew her hand as if burned, streams of Aura leaking from her fingers like trails of light. Instantly she curled up into a tight ball, her teeth gritting so hard she could hear the enamel straining. She gripped her hair tight as the starter memories slammed into both of them.

She dealt with it much better, her breathing barely hitching as the first memories of her life ran through her faster than her Semblance. Fear was probably the first emotion that stood out for her in the flashback. That primeval and raw form of emotion that lead to helplessness, fright, inferiority, and exposure. Dozen of other more specific ones danced around in the black-tinged memory, but against her, they stood little chance of embedding their microscopic teeth into her.

It was her function after all, the primary directive of her creation. To walk through the crushing weight of frivolous feelings and emotions and be the perfect weapon Remnant needed in her darkest days, even if it meant casting aside what made her human to begin with.

Like an old film reel from far before the digital revolution, the memories played with a significant portion of something abstract missing from them. She knew she was watching herself in a peculiar third-person detached view, but nothing that happened made her wince or cry.

Every cut, every burn, every wound filled with salt, every shock, every beating, and every rape washed over her, leaving nothing behind but the permanent scars her body bore. Most of these memories she had had no access to before the Doors fell, only snippets falling through the cracks.

But even now they were tolerable. She understood her body was nothing more than a tool for her mind to use and as long she held that her will would be indomitable. It was a stark reality she held deep down to her core, one the figure across from her couldn't fathom.

The warning she got wasn't enough for her to clear the area in time, a blast of silver light blanking out her vision and singing her shields. She released Rose fully as a counterweight to stop her uncontrollable tumble through the air, slamming the scythe into the ground to completely stop.

"Why… what… happened…?" The rest of her sentence was lost as an almost guttural roar tore across the landscape. No longer curled up with her knees drawn to her chest, the other figure stood hunched over on all fours. Her crimson cloak fluttered violently in the non-existent hurricane, pieces ripping out to join the protective shell of rose petals amassed around its owner.

The little girl representing her younger self was mostly gone before she even had a chance to exist. She held one hand almost permanently over her right eye, rays of black light leaking out through fingers. Similarly colored vein etched over the skin of her face, not quickly, but slowly and consistently spreading further to her neck.

"Why… didn't… Yang…?" Another spine-tingling roar of immeasurable pain ripped from her chest, but she already knew the ending to this question. She had never blamed Yang for failing in her prerogative as Sacrifice. On paper, she was first and served to ease her mind in ensuring her survival, but she knew she would always be the first to die as a leader.

"It wasn't Yang fault we were captured." She idly removed one of her artillery magazines from her leg pouch and slotted it in with a resounding click. "It was bad timing and luck."

"She… could've tried harder… They could've tried harder getting me back!" Her other yelled back at her with enough force to send a shockwave careening towards her. She let her shields tank it, idly wondering exactly how much of her mindscapes power wasn't her own anymore if she could do this instinctively.

"You're getting irrationally angry." She repositioned her Rose and aimed down to thick barrel to locate her enemy in her sights. "They spent six months searching for us through the most dangerous terrain across Anima and Sanus, and even then, it was by luck Blake found us."

"Us?" Her younger self finally managed to stagger to a stand, only to stop and growl at the artillery cannon pointed her way. "You're nothing but a fragment of who I am, already set on taking me out."

"That isn't a lie, no, not entirely." She carefully considered her next words, staring down at one gleaming silver eyes, white trails of power misting off into the ether off of it. "You're a threat to everyone with how mentally unhinged you are right now."

"And you aren't?" Her shadow retorted snidely, her Crescent Rose opening fully until it rested in her hands. "My memories stop only halfway through my torture, which means you bear the same brunt as I do."

She closed her eyes at the words of truth. "Yes, I do, but my creation was meant to incorporate the torture rather than have it scar me. Already it's having an effect on you." The black veins now reached her clavicle, spewing dark light. A mist of Aura also congealed around the hand she used to cover her eye, leaking a corrupt Aura into their shared mindscape.

"You survived the process. I should get a shot at living my life as my own, not as a puppet to this, this fake me. My team is out there, waiting to reconnect with their real leader, the real Ruby." She couldn't deny the shot of pain at those words. She'd done her best as Ruby's replacement, but there were always rumors she wasn't the same after her internment.

How true they had been.

"I'd happily let you leave here and take over our body but…" Her Aura pressure exploded into the air, weighing heavily on both of them. Ruby stumbled under the onslaught but held her, silver tinged with a hint of black joining to counter her transparent one. "it's not a chance I'm going to take."

She depressed the trigger on Rose and their mindscape shuddered.

* * *

They were all on edge as they watched their leader meditate in the middle of the desert. Glaringly bright white glyphs hung solidly in the air and offered limited light to reveal dozens of Blake clones scattered among the dunes, but Yang still couldn't help the shiver that ran up her spine, and it certainly wasn't because the desert was supposed to be freezing cold at sunset.

She watched for what felt like hours, sitting on top of a dune and resting her chin on her folded hand. Blake sat to her right, looking as if she gave no quarry to the world while she read her book, but her pretty ears betrayed her calm. Weiss sat to her left and didn't bother hiding her worry as she nibbled on her nails in a cute but albeit disgusting habit of anxiety.

The steadily increasing ball of Aura trapped in Weiss' sphere grabbed her attention almost immediately, eyes narrowing at the familiar yet unfamiliar Aura of her leader. She could still identify her Aura fragment among the chimera, and to a lesser extent, both Blake and Weiss', but the fourth remained elusive.

Ember Celica snapped into ready position before her conscious mind could realize it, the tips of her hair lighting in smoldering embers with her eyes bleeding into crimson at the prospect of Prune fully activating. She stifled the urge with a growl, violet peeking back through until she determined Ruby's status.

Blake and Weiss were in similar ready positions with hands gripped tightly around their weapons.

"Where am I?" A quiet voice asked from the center of her prison, completely wiping away any hostile intentions. She knew this voice and so did her teammates, all of them exchanging looks of fear and terror at the potential prospect of striking her down. "Why can't I see?"

"Who are you?" She was in front of the glyph sphere in mere seconds, flying across the dunes using her gauntlets as a propellant. She stared down onto Ruby, the girl blindly seeking out with her hands for purchase of something but finding only sand, sand, and more sand.

"Yang? Is that you? Why can't I see?" She gulped down the grapefruit sized ball of terror and found her mouth drier than the desert around her. She couldn't do this, she couldn't look down at the face, couldn't hear the voice of the leader she failed those many years ago and kill her.

"Who are you?" She repeated the question after a light prod from Blake.

"What do you mean 'who am I?'?" The imposter stood up too eagerly, failing to consider the enormous weight of Crescent Rose Mk. II and tumbled back down on her butt. "It's me. It's Ruby. Why can't I see?"

That crushing realization helped nothing in any way, shape, or form. This wasn't the Ruby of Remnant, High Commander of Beacon and one of the Four Horsemen of the Second Great War. No, this was Ruby of Beacon, Commander ascendant to Qrow, lover of cookies, leader of RWBY, and innocent of torture.

"You can't see because you sacrificed your eyes in a ceasefire about a year ago." Blake chose to answer this time, devolving into a coughing fit seeking to dislodge a lung. She bent over and pulled her into her side for support, getting an ear to tickle her cheek in thanks.

"Is that Blake? What ceasefire?" The rapid-fire questions came one after the other. "And do you mean the other me sacrificed them? Then how come it's affecting me?"

"So you know about your alter ego." Weiss chose to speak this time, her voice dropping low enough for snowflakes to begin appearing around her. "Is she okay?"

"Is she okay?" Ruby replied back mockingly, voice rising in hysteria. "I'm the one that's been trapped for apparently three to four years by this imposter, and you ask if SHE'S okay? I thought you were my friend Weiss!"

Though she didn't physically recoil at the acerbic words, Weiss still flinched at the verbal backhand. She similarly pulled her into a side hug and pet her hair, murmuring loving whispers only she could hear. This wasn't how Prune should've progressed. It predicted a monster hiding behind the facade of Summer, not this tortured and hysterical child of a leader.

"And I'm fine, thanks for asking." Yet even this version of Ruby felt wrong. She wasn't one for sarcasm, even in the worst of her moods, usually stuck being passive-aggressive or even patronizingly and sickeningly sweet. "Not like the other me is trying to kill me or anything."

"She's what?" Yang heard all of them ask at once, Blake tearing herself from her coughing fit just enough to utter those two words.

"Yeah, she has this enormous version of Crescent Rose pointed at me and is talking about not giving me the chance to take control and…" She could fill in the blanks as Ruby curled into a tight ball and whimpered, her bright silver Aura congealing into physical clouds of mists around her.

"Okay, now what do we do?" She almost didn't hear Weiss' question with how caught up she was staring at her imprisoned Ruby. "Which Ruby is this? What does Prune say about this?"

"I don't know." She admitted after a tenuous silence. "Somewhere in her psyche are two versions of Ruby battling for control. One is Summer, the nightmare that survived her torture and the Ruby we served with for the last three years. The one who activated Prune just before she started meditating." She took a deep breath to steady herself.

"The other is the Ruby we once knew. The one that knows less hardship and isn't blind. The Ruby from before her torture, but still corrupted by it if her little outburst is anything to go by. Someone is going to win, and depending on which one of them asserts dominance, we have to make a choice."

"But isn't this a good thing?" The optimist in Weiss chimed in. "Ruby, our old Ruby, is coming back. Sure she's not the Ruby we served with, but it's still Ruby."

"We still have our orders sweetheart." She chastised softly.

"But Prune only takes effect is Ruby is a threat to humanity. This is Ruby we're talking about. She cried when she accidentally killed someone on the field. She couldn't hurt anyone even if she tried." Weiss argued well, but she didn't quite understand the danger sitting nestled within Ruby's form.

"Kill her." Blake rasped out and stepped forward, placing a hand on one of the many glyphs of the constructed prison. The entire sphere flashed a violent purple as she wrested control from Weiss, the heiress shuddering at the takeover. Despite the control she wielded, Blake still looked to her for the final signal.

Weiss, however, mistook the plea for orders as a farewell and acted, screaming out at Blake and materializing a glyph to fling the Faunus violently away. Her outstretched hand was instantly grabbed by an irritated Yang, control of the sphere falling to her as it turned a virulent yellow.

"Enough!" She barked, a blast of sand erupting around her as her Aura responded to her turbulent emotions. Weiss recoiled as her eyes no doubt flashed their terrifying crimson, reminding her who exactly held command of the team when Ruby was incapacitated.

Another Blake appeared by Weiss' side and slapped her lightly upside the head with no real malice. She didn't need to turn around to know the Blake Weiss had sent to eat sand was a clone, or if she was real then she had enough skills to make it look as if it was. Annoying pest of a Hunter had earned her nickname well.

"This isn't my choice in the first place because it was always going to be Blake's choice. But if she at all values my opinion then she will kill her!" Weiss blinked owlishly at the already seemingly concrete decision, a quiet 'huh?' escaping her lips.

"Whoever that Ruby is, whoever comes out of that prison isn't the Ruby I served with. Summer's not making it out in one piece, and neither is the old Ruby, not if we follow Summer's last orders."

She held up a hand to cut off Weiss' next words.

"I won't serve with a Ruby I no longer know. A Ruby that doesn't know how to lead or hunt or be a soldier. A Ruby that you and I don't know or love the way we do now, a Ruby that Blake isn't married to. A Ruby that is more liable to hate us for our failures just as much as she is liable to love us as she always did."

"We can always learn to love her again, to teach her the same way we taught Summer!" Weiss protested, ripping control of her glyphs back. "Ruby never hated anyone!"

"Is that a chance you're willing to take? To fight Ruby at her most powerful when you and I both know we don't have the guts to really hurt her?"

"You weren't there," Blake whispered, again stepping forward to place a hand on the glyph sphere but not asserting control. She coughed once to alleviate the pressure building in her chest before switching to her more usual form of communication. _I never put it in the report, but Ruby was gone. I'm sorry Weiss, but there's nothing left._

Blake had cast her vote and Weiss now looked to her for the deciding vote, baleful blue curtained by a few stray locks of white she'd let grow out just a little too much. She couldn't look her wife in the eye though, her decision already made the moment Summer had trusted her as the next leader.

"Detonate it." Weiss let a tear fall from her eyes but didn't move to stop Blake, handing over the reins of the glyphs completely. Blake didn't follow the order immediately, waiting for some, for any sign from her.

"Do it." She finally spoke, her voice cracking painfully. Blake only nodded and asserted control, the dozens of glyphs again glowing a vibrant purple. All but the ones protecting then pulsed an eye-watering violet as she funneled Yang's Semblance into them.

With a sharp increase in her Aura pressure, the sphere detonated, blasting out a shockwave strong enough for them to feel it down to their bones. Tons of sand erupted into the air from the explosion and they only remained on their feet due to Weiss snapping in a platform at the last moment, the mage still having her wits about her.

She had to wipe some sand from her precious hair and her eyes to discern the damage done, a small part of her hoping there wouldn't be a body left or she might lose it and accidentally go supernova on the continent and leave it split in twain, or worse, start a nuclear winter. That might've killed the entire point of Prune in the first place if she accidentally killed a large majority of the population because she couldn't keep her emotions in check.

There was nothing left when she checked the location of the prison, save for the vast crater below them. Nothing could've survived that explosion, nothing should've survived that explosion, but at least one of Blake clones glowed enough of a silver to have Ember Celica shift into a ready position.

A slow clap echoed across the blank landscape, prompting Weiss to snap into existence a partially complete dome with interspersed glyphs to illuminate the bleak desert. The slowly rotating aerial glyphs hung impossibly and exposed the many Blake clones crouched and ready, along with a familiar figure standing on the other end of the valley.

"I didn't think you had it in you." Their condemned leader stopped clapping once she got her dramatic fill. "I always knew Blake had it in her, but you, you I didn't expect to be the deciding vote. Here I thought you'd veto my decision, just as you'd done in the past, so why didn't you now?"

"Hmm," Yang observed her from her position on the glyph, moving to crouch and gaze down over the edge. "My leader's wishes pertained to ending her suffering on top of protecting her, yet she isn't here right now, is she?"

Ruby smiled, making all of them stand uncomfortably and shuffled on their platform. It wasn't the smile she used to endear herself to people and neither was it her bloodthirsty one where she made men flee in terror. No, this one terrified all of them as it was cruel and capricious, a smile found on immoral sociopaths, a smile of wanton destruction.

"No she isn't, Summer and the girl once known as Ruby are trapped in a physical battle of wills to see which of them will gain control over the body, but while they fight up here," She tapped her head, "they left their combined subconscious to assume control. Me."

"To survive above all others, though I'm going to have to survive the three of you first." Crescent Rose opened before they noticed it move, a full magazine already slotted in with the hammer armament ready and in position. "Both of them have this… insipid need to sacrifice themselves. Don't get me wrong, we're all good people, but they take their oaths with a zeal beyond what their instincts tell them otherwise. So many times they've flaunted about and almost gotten themselves killed, but not anymore. I come first this time!"

Yang didn't utter a sound for a long time, taking in this selfish new Ruby that was so different from the Summer they served under or the Ruby their memories could piece together. Never had she been so callous to her oaths, and never had she ever considered herself above another life.

She didn't know how to warp Prune into this directive now, several odd bits and pieces of a puzzle fitting into place. If what she understood, and she wasn't going to kid herself that she knew little, this was just another part of Ruby, which only meant Prune could activate fully since this was nothing more than just _another_ part of Ruby.

Oh how far a god had fallen, to go from perfect and indomitable to selfish and cowardly. To watch as she succumbed to her wounds from years ago, an almost unpredicted outcome which could've turned out far, far worse if she hadn't seen it coming. To see her torn apart as different aspects of her psyche tore her apart.

Perhaps this was the true injury she suffered, to become so fragmented she only truly lived in parts and never as a whole. To have entire pieces locked away behind a wall and only just now were they vying for dominance and control.

"I have my orders, Ruby." She fired her weapon, overcharging it until it was more explosive than metal. The slug glowed a violent orange and the air screech as it tore around it until it impacted where Ruby stood and made another crater to join the larger one.

A chill crawled up her spine and her gut told her this fight was far from over. A bare breeze tickled her ear and she almost chalked it up to the desert until it spoke. "And I have mine."

* * *

This fight wasn't going her way.

Despite her few years of training and immeasurable experience on the battlefield, her younger self just had more raw talent and early training. Taught since she could walk, Ruby danced around her with an audacity unseen. When she wasn't taunting her with polite barbs, or devolving into quiet giggles as her mind snapped under the weight of her memories, she cut her up with scary ease.

It wasn't even the experience gap anymore, her Aura shields unable to manifest anymore as more and more of her mindscape slipped from her control. Already her movement was slowing as Ruby figured out how much power she could exert over her.

Her shields had fallen first and she bore the mark of her arrogance across her chest. Her Aura refused to work on the wound or rather her injury refused to be healed or seared shut, a sucking chest wound pouring blood across her front.

Fortunately, she had enough control over her mindscape bodily construct to ignore the pain and not let the debilitating wound distract her. As long as she could simulate breathing just fine, she could still yet come out on top, but as soon as Ruby understood the true lengths of control over their mindscape, she'd be lucky to breathe let alone stand tall.

She sidestepped a lance of wind and returned a shot, Ruby slapping the bullet aside with childish ease. That one move meant far more had changed in the short time she'd been lost in thought. Her artillery shells weren't the little toys fired out by soldiers but bleeding-edge rounds capable of shredding top of the line Atlesian naval craft.

"You can't win this lesser me." She suddenly found herself sequestered behind a rock among hilly terrain and felt like a mouse trapped in a maze with a puma. Anything she did, along with her location, was inconsequential with the coming of absolute control in Ruby's hands.

Any move she made to exert mental control over Ruby was met with a wall so tall and thick she was reminded of the Doors she fought so hard to maintain in the first place. She didn't know whether this was because Ruby was just so much older than her or whether her strength was fading the longer she fought.

"You're right!" She called back, a spray of bullets slamming against the rock she hid behind. "But I wouldn't be you if I didn't at least try and stop you."

"Stop me?" Her protection suddenly disappeared and she was forced to book it as Ruby smashed her scythe where she just stood. "I love our team just as much as you do you psycho, but the difference between you and me is that I'm real and not some fake!"

"No, the difference is I'm sane and you're a liability I can't afford to let loose on the world."

"Liability?" Ruby devolved into hysterics, laughing wildly with her hair waving erratically under her unleashed power. "I would never hurt my team." She followed this up with a mad cackle, not quite enforcing her statement.

"It's not the team I'm worried about." She mumbled under her breath, her form scattered into rose petals as Ruby attempted the bisect her.

"You're weak." She reappeared a short distance away, clutched her side at a feeble attempt to stem the rivulets of blood seeping through. "How you ever survived is a mystery."

"I know." She wiped a trail of blood from her mouth and spit out a glob more. "Still, you lost."

"Whaddya mea-?" Both of them gasped as a sudden and immense pressure slammed into their chests.

Summer accepted the fate of ceding control of her mindscape for a shred of control over their physical body, collapsing weakly onto her knees. The shock kept her blood pumping, somehow, despite her obliterated heart, able to discern Ruby wasn't taking their end well.

The girl raged with a fury only seem in Salem, waves of corrupted black Aura tainted with silver lashing across the mindscape violently and erratically.

She barely registered getting slapped and tossed across the mindscape. She groaned pitifully, pushing up to a seat with a shaking arm. The earlier chest wound stung now and the abdomen injury made it only more agonizing. Her lungs spasmed under the effort of taking a breath, getting just as much blood into them as air.

"What did-" Ruby gasped out, clutching her chest. No physical wound scarred her body and she'd never been injured in such a grievous manner. Experienced in battle she may have been but experienced in pain was her forte. Even now she could feel her body rapidly dwindling in strength as her will faded. "What did you do?"

"I knew, I knew I could never beat you." She collapsed her weapon and used it as a crutch. Her weapon vehemently disagreed with being used for such a paltry task, shocking her with a pulse of crimson. Idly she wondered whether her weapon would follow her to whatever afterlife existed if one even existed. "So I did the next- the next best thing."

It wouldn't be long until her consciousness moved on. Already her vision darkened around the edges, periodically cutting out entirely and leaving her bereft of the one sense she had an advantage with over her real self.

"Why?" Ruby hacked up an enormous spitball of blood. "Why couldn't you give- give me a chance?"

She barely heard the question among the din of nothing that threatened to blank out her mind. The fleeting memories of her team flashed by quickly, only to disappear the moment later: slapping Weiss for an impulsive action, a searing kiss with Yang after a mission, a tryst in bed with Blake as a reward for both of them.

Ruby hissed as the shared memories washed from her to her. This wasn't the Yang she knew and grew up with, the lover and engineer rather than the sister and hobbyist. Still, she was their older protector they knew and loved, just a different sort of love.

"I have a- I had a mission, and I- saw it to the end-" She gasped out a final time, her vision going completely dark as silence overwhelmed her senses. A blistering cold rushed into her limbs, chasing away the last remnants of Aura with her core flickering, each time it did a painful spike ramming into every nerve.

Her last living thought before the darkness claimed her was how she wouldn't ever get to see her team again, or tell them she cared for them.

* * *

This fight wasn't going their way.

Whoever this demon in Ruby's form was refused to be captured or put down. Weiss' glyphs were more liable to be turned around on them as Ruby flexed her control over them and forced them to disintegrate. It left their mage a mess and essentially useless in the greater scheme of combat.

Ruby alone had a martial prowess only she could remotely match, her shields absorbing punch after kick and scythe smash. Whatever energy she could catalyze from the impacting kinetic blows was instantly blown diverting the massive weapon strikes that were Crescent Rose.

Blake was running across their battlefield with enough clones to dismantle a naval cruiser but none of them could survive the rose petal hurricane that wrapped around her and protected her from their less resilient bodies. Her crimson glyphs prevented any surprise attacks and effectively blocked knives and jabs at her most critical pressure points.

"You know," She ducked under a vicious scythe slash, catching Ruby with an uppercut and sending her flying into a sand dune, "I figured the three of us could pretty easily take her down."

"Yeah, well it's not exactly easy when she's using my Semblance against me!" Cue a sarcastic and petty Weiss sticking her tongue out childishly only to cringe as one of Ruby's artillery rounds impacted against her primary glyph defense and instantly smashed one to pieces, sending her zipping out of her view.

She could barely spare a thought for her safety before Ruby smashed into her again, hundred of rose petals slicing into her thicks shields. None of them came close to piercing into her skin but the constant assault didn't let her regenerate the Aura lost in ensuring she lasted. Blunt force, as annoying as it was the shield against, offered the best return on energy. Piercing, not so much.

"Blake." Her other teammate swapped out with her, instantly blowing up in a series of explosions as the fire Dust of the nearby clones reacted to Ruby's attack. Yang tanked the explosions and let them carry her away from the clusterfuck of a fight, greedily eating the power behind it and restoring a fraction of the energy it took to redirect the weight of Crescent Rose. Her enormous Aura was already at half, but considering she only had three-fourths to start with, the rationing was going well.

Just as long as she didn't-

Something inordinately heavy slammed into her stomach and she tasted sand. A groan from her side told her she'd landed next to Weiss, her gorgeous white hair streaked with clay and sand. She lifted her head and opened a glacial eye, already tired from the fight from having to use Myrtenaster over her preferred glyphs.

"We're not going to win this, are we?" Weiss slurred out, rising to a seat and snapped a glyph into place in front of them for protection while they caught their breaths. She was stupidly beautiful with most of her clothing shredded and a few scratches just about everywhere. She smiled wickedly at the cute thought despite their situation.

"With how many times we've fought it's not really a surprise anymore, but I'm not looking to win anymore. Ruby just has to lose." Bright fiery veins crawled across her skin, her eyes glowing a glaring orange so hot it approached white. "I need you to leave and get as far away from here as possible."

The real Blake chose to crash the moment by literally slamming into their protective glyph, moaning weakly.

"You think yourself immortal with your clones, but even we have limits to Aura." Ruby stalked through a cloud of smoke and carefully observed the ticking bomb sitting behind a glyph. "You wouldn't. Not even to kill me."

"No, you're right. The Supernova is a little overkill for you." She staggered to a stand with Weiss' hand grasped tightly in her own, fire burning across every extremity. "But this isn't."

Ruby turned as something stepped into her closest radar shell, eyes widening as another Yang slammed a palm thrust into her chest and poured a massive quantity of her own volatile Aura into her, disruptive her precious control over her radar and Semblance.

She stumbled from the blow, tripping over Blake and into the glyph wall, hearing only a faint boom escape her wife's lips before she was sent careening into the air, her shields flickering faintly. A sphere of glyphs snapped into existence around her, Yang joining her after a brief moment with her own colored rose petals trailing behind her.

Three Blakes followed them into the air, hovering just behind Ruby as they remained motionless in the air upon more of Weiss' glyphs.

Another glyph repositioned her in front of Ruby, a coil of fiery Aura wrapped around weapons. Ruby glared down at her with those nonexistent eyes, but her face softened imperceptibly after a moment.

She knew her mistake the moment she moved, ignoring the incredibly loud voice practically yelling at her to stop, to think more about the consequences of her actions, to remember who she was fighting.

It was a terrible movie in slow motion, her arm outstretched to pummel Ruby to the ground. Her eyes widened and slipped into ethereal amethyst when Ruby closed her eyes, her shields visibly flickering off and allowing her to close the gap.

She couldn't stop her momentum, crying out Ruby's name as her arm smashed through her sternum, her burning Aura cauterizing the further she dug through her body. She only had ears for the sickening crunch of bone and the disgustingly wet squish of her heart exploding, her pleas lost in place of them.

Immediately, Weiss' glyph field collapsed around, letting them freefall and impact the ground. She wiped away the buildup of sand while screaming Ruby's name, frantically attempting to pull her arm from her leader. Ember Celica acted as a catch though and she collapsed to her knees, cradling her body to her instead.

Her teammates landed beside her, Weiss unlatching Ember Celica in her bid to free her leader from Yang's arm. She almost reverently released Yang's fingers from the death grip she had on Rei's gem before prying the fractured backplate from Ruby's back.

Ruby released a soft and final cough when she finally managed to release her. The gaping hole where her heart once beat was nothing more than a charred mess of burnt tissue and muscle, nothing bleeding from the intense heat used to vaporize it.

None of them spoke after that, kneeling around their fallen leader in shock. Yang, however, couldn't bear to look down at her, trapped in a guilty loop by her bloody arm, specks of the heart she annihilated tainted her skin.

Another cough ripped her attention to the finger slowly encroaching into her space. She went cross-eyed as Ruby gently touched her nose, the younger girl smiling infuriatingly all the while.

"Boop." Ruby murmured weakly, her hand falling slightly before moving to pressed another nose boop to Weiss who put on a weak smile and choked back a laugh. Blake got the last of the nose boops, grasping Ruby's hand almost desperately and pressing a kiss to her knuckles, a stray tear sliding down her cheek.

"Finish the fight…" Ruby trailed off and fell limp, a chilling howl erupting from the black gem nestled in Weiss' lap. Weiss leaned forward and gently closed Ruby's eyes, muttered in denial over and over again until she ended up screaming it to the skies above, a blast of Aura sending sand scattering everywhere.

Yang pulled her wife into her side, caressing her hair and picking out the many specks of sand in it. Blake nestled into her other side, grabbing one of Weiss' hands in solidarity. She stroked the back of her hand with a thumb, the worked skin telling of the many stories those hands had wrought, the lives they'd ended, the lives they'd saved.

Only this time, they had helped take a life more precious, more pure than anything else could possibly ever be.

And she wasn't sure if any of them would survive that.

* * *

 **Why have you come here?**

Neo collapsed under the weight of the being's words, sweating rolling off her in beads when she fully stepped through the portal. She knelt heavily, refusing to gaze upon the being in front of her despite knowing there was nothing there in the dark and bleak dimension.

She swallowed the ball of fear sitting in her throat. "I've come for a favor." A small burst of pride soared in her chest before instantly evaporating under the pressure of her master.

 **A favor, hmm?** The being laughed heartily but Neo refused to join in, keeping her gaze firmly locked to her feet. Her blade hummed dangerously, the ripples of its metal gleaming every color ominously. **What is this favor?**

She was satisfied it hadn't immediately denied her request. "A delay in collection."

The being sounded like it was deciding, hemming and hawing softly. She disliked these moments, knowing it enjoyed playing with her with how little entertainment it received. She knew its decision had been made instantly. She wasn't asking for an injunction or a reversal, but only for a delay, a simple non-request for this being.

 **Granted.** She released a breath of air she didn't know she was holding, moving to a stand to leave this hellish dimension until she froze. **But it will cost you.** Her throat became dry at the change in terms yet she still drew her weapon, holding the blade tightly in her hand.

Blood stained her blade as she drew it across her palm, the being naming the terms she'd have to comply with to achieve her wish. She hid the flinch well, but if the being had a face it would smile ravenously.

The price was steep, but in her eyes, it had been worth it.

Even if her soul had been cast in damnation.

* * *

 **AN:** Happy Holidays! Been waiting to release this chapter for a while so forgive me. The end of the semester has destroyed me and I haven't had the time to respond to all of your lovely reviews. Gave this chapter all of my love so please enjoy and let me know what you think!


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